


Dimensional Shift: An Adventure Across the Galaxies

by OxfordPictionary



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Blind Character, Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:33:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 35,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27235036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OxfordPictionary/pseuds/OxfordPictionary
Summary: A lab accident at the end of the work day sends Marisa Holtz spiralling across time and space into the path of Project Freelancer. Due to a head injury Marisa wakes up in this new and scary world blind and, striking a deal with the Director, she agrees to use her skills in medical robotics to aide Project Freelancer if the project assists her in getting her sight backContains fictional and likely inaccurate medicine. I'm not a Doctor but I did my research. It's fanficiton, suspend your disbelief.
Relationships: Agent Carolina/Agent Washington (Red vs. Blue), Agent York (Red vs Blue)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

I was walking home from work in the midst of a summer heatwave. I knew that much. I don't remember much else thereafter, just a harsh and blinding blue light that ripped through everything. A powerful shockwave that sent me spiralling towards the ground but, instead of making contact with the unforgiving surface of the sidewalk like all the bricks, mortar and debris of the explosion, I seemed to pass right through. I felt momentarily like my soul had been ripped from its body. I fell through the dark hole that had opened up beneath me and instead of hitting the concrete I was sent hurtling at break-neck speed towards a white, snowy ground. I shook as I fell, letting out an ear piercing scream. I didn't have much time to think of a landing strategy, all I had time for in fact, was to let out a brief ''Omph,'' as my body made impact with the ground.

''Fuck,'' I groaned, trying to open my eyes. I ached all over and I couldn't quite seem to manage opening my eyes. I must have hit my head pretty hard. It felt like my eyes were open, but all I saw was darkness.

''So you speak English then,'' a voice beside me said, I jumped. I had no idea someone was here with me, wherever here was. And why were we just sitting here in the dark? There was a machine frantically beeping beside me, sounding like it was about to explode if it was put under any more strain. I fought with the slightly plush surface I'd been laying on, trying to push myself into an upright position in the dark but it was useless.

''Hey hey hey, steady on, you're alright,'' the voice tried to sooth. ''It's okay,'' they said. I felt a hand come down on my shoulder calloused fingertips gently brushing the exposed skin in an attempt to calm me down. I shook, trying to calm myself down. A few shaky breaths followed by some deep exhales and I was down.

''Are you alright now?'' they asked. At this point, I was pretty sure whoever was with me was a guy. But I couldn't tell much else until my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I tried to answer, desperate to ask some questions but all that came out was a strangled croak. My throat was so dry, it felt almost scraped.

''You want some water?'' they asked. I nodded and then remembered I was in the dark, I tried again, to speak.

''Yeah,'' I managed and then, feeling confident, I tried to make a joke. ''Without poison.''

There was a snort from beside me before I heard what sounded like someone getting up and walking away. There was the sound of soft, returning footsteps, the clank of a plastic cup on a nearby surface and the sound of that surface being pushed closer.

''Do you need help sitting up?'' he asked. I nodded, again forgetting I was in darkness, and then strong hands were around my upper arms, hoisting me to a sitting position. The surface I was on moved up behind me, I assumed it was some kind of bed or chair.

''How can you see anything?'' I asked.

''What?'' he replied, sounding confused.

''It's so dark,'' I replied. ''It's basically pitch black. I can't see anything, not even if I held my hand up in front of my face. Yet you're moving around like it's nothing. And why are we sitting in the dark anyway? Where are we?''

''Slow down,'' he replied worriedly. ''You can't see? As in you really can't see anything at all?''

''No?'' I asked. ''Surely that's not that weird, it is dark out... isn't it?''

''No,'' he said. ''All the lights are on in here. It's painfully bright. Shit, you must have hit your head hard. They put you in surgery as soon as we got you here but, it mustn't have been enough. Maybe it's just swelling or something, hang out here, let me get a doc.'' There was a noise that sounded like the scraping of a chair across the floor and I threw my hands forward, trying to grab onto the stranger.

''NO,'' I yelled out, frightened. ''Please, don't go.''

‘'I won't be gone long, I'm just going to grab a doctor, to help you. It's okay, you're safe here.''

''No, you don't understand,'' I said. ''I can't remember anything, I don't know where I am or how I got here. I don't know who you are and I have no idea where I am. I can't see anything at all, it's really frightening and I don't wanna be here alone. Please don't go.'' he let out a sigh.

''I get it,'' he replied. ''Give me a sec then, I'll see if I can get one of my friends to come down here.''

''Don't leave me with them either, I don't know them,'' I said.

''You don't know me either,'' he pointed out and I paused. Closing my mouth immediately with a frown as I realised he was right. There was a soft chuckle beside me, at what I imagined was a funny sight. My face outta be pretty hilarious right now. Not that I'd ever be able to tell myself again.

''Your fault,'' I said eventually. ''You were here when I woke up. And you didn't poison me when you had the chance.''

''You don't know that, maybe it's slow acting,'’ he replied and I let out a puff of air. He was doing a good job of keeping me relaxed. Nervously, I ran my thumbs over my fingers, fidgeting in the silence. I couldn't turn to look at him, study him to keep myself occupied because I couldn't see anything. I didn't know what to say to him, either. I didn't know much of anything right now.

‘'You okay?’' he asked.

‘'Where are we?'’ I asked.

‘'We're back at the ship,’' he told me. '’We flew you back here when you hit the ground.’'

'’That doesn't make any sense,'’ I told him. '’Missouri is landlocked. If you were going to airlift me anywhere for medical treatment, why a naval ship?'’

‘'No, sorry, I meant our spaceship. Why do you think you're Missouri? We picked you up on Venezia. Is Missouri where you were before? What were you doing there?'’ he asked.

‘'I'm sorry, where?'’ I spluttered. ‘'I've never left the US. And I can't tell you much about what I was doing in Missouri, I work for the Military. And are you fucking serious, a space ship? What, you think because I'm blind I'm fucking stupid?'’

‘'No, but I'm starting to think you're concussed,'’ he replied. ‘'Look, I can't tell you the name of the ship, for the same reasons you can't tell me what you were doing in Missouri, if you're telling the truth about your job. But I can assure you, you are in fact in space. We're orbiting... wait, I can't tell you that either..'’

‘'So she's awake then,’' I heard someone else say and I jumped. I searched for the voice but couldn't quite pinpoint it. Why had her footsteps been so quiet? '’Why'd you call me and not a doctor?'’

‘'She can't see,’' the other guy replied.

‘'All the more reason to call a doctor, York,'’ she scolded. ‘'Instead you're getting interrogated by her.'’

‘'You know I'm right fucking here, right? I might not be able to see but I'm not deaf,’' I snapped. ‘'Now, instead of bullshitting me because you know I can't fucking see, tell me, where the hell am I? Who the fuck are you and why I'm suddenly blind!'’

‘'Woah, calm down, it's okay,’' York soothed. '’Carolina is going to go and get a doctor and we're gonna be able to figure out what happened to you, why you can't see. Someone will come talk to you, about who you are, and once we're sure you're not a threat, we'll be able to tell you where you are, who we are.'’

‘'I'm fucking BLIND how much of a threat do you think I can be?’' I screamed. '’I'm a fucking scientist, even with my sight my go-to fighting tactic is hiding in the cupboards while the marines take care of the bad guys. And that's just drills.'’

‘'Alright, then that should be easy then,’' York reasoned. '’I'm Agent New York, you've been out since we brought you here. We've had someone sitting here with you until you woke up because you had a head wound. Just so happens I was the one here when you woke up. My friend who's gone to go get the surgeon who worked on you is Agent Carolina. I promise you, unless you give us reason, you'll be okay. No one will hurt you unnecessarily. You're safe.'’

‘'Forgive me if I don't believe you, weirdo, but I wasn't blind before I met you, and I also wasn't in fucking outer space either,'’ I snarled.

‘'I get it,’' he told me. '’You're frightened, but you need to calm down, if only so you don't make your heart-rate monitor explode.'’ That did explain the frantic beeping that had been happening somewhere beside me the entire time I'd been yelling.

‘'Here she is,’' I heard Carolina say and I moved my head towards the sound, still unable to actually tell where she was.

‘'Ahh, Miss Doe, you're awake then,'’ another male voice said. I bit my tongue, trying not to bite his head off for pointing out the obvious, '’Agent Carolina here tells me you're having trouble seeing.’'

‘'If you call opening my eyes to nothing but the dark abyss, having some trouble, then yes,’' I replied. Well, so much for that. ‘'I suppose I am having some trouble seeing. What the fuck did you do, you quack, and why does the back of my head feel like someone hit me with a lead pipe?'’

‘'We had to open you up to reduce the swelling,’' he answered simply. '’My guess is we were too late to prevent damage to the occipital lobe, but the scans show no major damage to the brain. Which is good news. We'll have to run tests to find out why exactly your visual processing relay isn't working as it should be. Still, it's good news you woke up at all. After the surgery there was very little brain function observed at all. We put you in an induced coma to recover and when brain function returned we brought you out of it. It's taken an alarming number of days to actually get some response from you. I had little faith you'd be stringing full sentences together, let alone swearing and carrying on like a teenager. Still, it is rather marvellous, isn't it?'’

‘'I'm glad you see it that way,'’ I muttered, hearing York make a choking noise next to me. ‘'Is it permanent?'’

‘'Until more testing..’' I sent a glare in his vague direction. ‘'Most likely.'’

‘'Fuck,’' I put a hand up to my face. '’My whole job revolves around being able to see. I... I can't even fix this problem because I'd need to see to be able to. Fuck.. fuck. Oh shit... what a waste of student loans. Fuck me. Oh this is just great. You know what, just shoot me. Fuck it, if we really are in space just send me out the airlock. Fuck.'’

'’Now now, there's no need to swear, I understand..'’

'’YOU UNDERSTAND!’' I screamed. '’You're a surgeon, so much of what you do involves seeing. Being able to find what's wrong with someone and fucking cut it out, put people back together. I spent years dragging myself up and getting through high school, then countless college courses getting a fucking PHD in medical fucking robotics AND IT WAS ALL FOR NOTHING. No way you can fucking understand, you can still fucking see you asshole.'’

'’Okay,’' I heard York clear his throat. ‘'Well I think that..'’

‘'Shut up,'’ I said. '’Are you the only doctor on this magic fucking school bus of bullshit?’'

'’No, there's a team of surgeons..'’

'’Get me a new one,'’ I said. '’Preferably one with a bedside manor.'’

‘'While that's your ri..'’

'’NOW!’' I demanded. There was the sound of leaving footsteps and I pulled my knees up to my chest, both hands on my face. I let out a frustrated sigh. I ran my fingers through my tangled hair, trying not to get them caught. '’So what do you wanna know?’' I asked.

‘'What you can remember to start with,’' Carolina started. '’You took a pretty hard knock to the head, it wouldn't be unexpected for you to have forgotten bits and pieces. Tell us what you were doing before the accident.'’

‘'I work for a private facility contracted under the military,’' I said. '’They came to my high school when I was a kid, helped me graduate early and sent me to all the right programs. When I finished my doctorate, I was offered a job almost immediately. I can't really tell you much about the projects, but I worked to fix people after accidents caused them to be unable to do their various jobs. Basically, I was helping make sure the only reason soldiers retired was because they wanted to.    
The base I was working in, Missouri, I can't tell you any more information on it's location than that, it didn't just house myself and my team. There was a whole building full of other teams and projects going on. I'd been working late every night for the past month, I was burning myself out, I couldn't do it anymore. Last thing I remember is the heat, I was walking home and it was so hot. I didn't even make it to the parking lot. I was on the sidewalk outside. Yeah, the wall beside me. There was a spray of bricks and dust, I don't think I hit the ground. No, there was this light. It burned my eyes. It sent this shockwave through everything and I was headed for the ground but I'm sure I didn't hit it. There was no sidewalk. Everything was black. And then there was the snowy ground. I was falling through the air and I couldn't do anything. There wasn't time, there was nothing to catch myself on. I just hit the ground. And then I woke up here.'’

'’You can't remember anything from Missouri to Venesia?’' Carolina choked.

'’I think she's saying she teleported from Missouri to Venesia,’' York replied.

'’Are you retarded?’' I asked. '’There's no possible way I could have teleported from Earth to another planet, much less one that doesn't fucking exist.'’

'’She's got a point, we've never seen the cubes carry anyone that far, she'd have to have jumped, but, we've never seen someone do that without a vessel,’' Carolina told him.

'’Maybe this is why,’' he replied. '’Maybe that's what one of the other teams was working on in her building and she just got caught up in the crossfire.'’

'’We can check up on that,’' Carolina said. '’The Director has contacts, he could confirm her story.'’

‘'And then what?’' I grumbled. There was a moment of silence.

'’She shrugged,'’ York said. ‘'Lina, she's blind, you can't make gestures.'’

‘'How about this one,’' she said and I didn't have to see what one she was making to get the gist of what she was saying.

'’Now you're just being childish,'’ York replied.

'’I'm going to go report to the Director,'’ she told him. ‘'You might wanna stay here until the new doctor arrives. You seem to be pretty good at calming her down. Last thing we want is someone giving her a sedative.'’

‘'Got it,'’ he replied. There was a shifting noise and then someone padded over to the seat beside me. ‘'Guess it's going to be me and you for a while, kiddo. You know, I don't think I got your name.'’

‘'Marisa Holtz,'’ I replied. '’No parents, no family and no middle name.'’

‘'That's sad,'’ he replied. ‘'I've got four brothers and five sisters. Hated how cramped my apartment always was but I always had family. And I wouldn't change that for the world. I can't imagine what it would be like to not be surrounded by people.'’

'’I was in foster care my whole life, never once got adopted, spent my whole life in a group home. There were plenty of people around, I was just busy,'’ I replied. He snorted.

‘'You were a kid, what were you so busy doing?'’ he asked.

‘'Studying for my job,’' I said. '’I saw a bunch of sci-fi movies I was too young to watch and decided this is exactly what I wanted to do. Robots were cool, and I was gonna build them. When I got older I got to meet this vet, we were learning about the wars in history class during the lead-up to veterans day and this one guy was talking about how far prosthetics were coming while he was using this slow, clunky and basically useless robot arm, and then I was sure I was gonna grow up to do it better. I was gonna give him a better arm. And I did, while I was still in college I designed a better one and he tested it for me. Got to keep it when the testing was over, and I sold the design to the military. Name's still on the patent. Now I'm here and I'm not able to work on something to fix this because I can't see what I'm doing.'’

‘'I'm sorry,'’ he told me. '’I know it's hard, but you will learn how to work with this. Trust me, I know.'’

'’Forgive me, I've been awake less than an hour and things are already looking pretty fucking bleak,'’ I said. '’I don't know I can really do optimism right now.’'

'’And you know what, that's okay,’' he said. '’You be angry if you gotta, because you've been given some really heavy news. You have every right to be pissed, life just threw you a fucking curve ball and it knocked you down. Just make sure you don't stay down. When you're ready, get up again.'’

'’And do what?’' I replied.

'’Whatever you want,’' he said. I let out a sigh and then lay back against the bed I was perched on. I wondered what the room looked like, I knew it was a hospital room, now, or infirmary. But what did everything look like? Was I really on a spaceship? No, that was crazy. We sat in silence for a few moments while I tried to figure out what to do, or say.

'’You wanna play iSpy?’' I asked and I heard the sound of York choking beside me.

'’What?’' he asked, almost laughing.

'’Sorry, I thought I'd make light,'’ I said. ‘'It's really bugging me this whole, not seeing thing. Like, yeah I know I've been complaining about it since I woke up but I never noticed just how much I used my eyes until I couldn't see anything. I can't even stare out the window or people watch because I'm bored. I can't count the ceiling tiles or how many wall lights there are.'’

‘'You couldn't do that anyway, this ceiling is metal panels and we have ceiling lights,'’ York replied. '’But I get it. You don't realise how good you've got it sometimes until things are taken from you.'’

'’Tell me about this room,'’ I said. ‘'Am I in a ward, are there other people? Are they ugly? Do they look stupid without even talking to them? Are they models? What colour are the walls, is the floor metal too? Is it cold?'’

'’Man, slow down,’' he said. '’There is an infirmary ward, but you're in isolation, you were in a coma and you'd just had brain surgery so you were put here for infection risks and stuff. Plus you literally falling from the sky caused a bit of a stir. So there's a door directly in front of you, windows all along the wall either side. Um, the wall to your left has a long light above it, it's um, beige? there's nothing on it, it's boring. Same with the other side but no light. The wall behind you's interesting. Bunch of wires and shit poking out to connect to various things. Ceiling's also beige. Floor's brown, metal, looks cold, not touching it to find out.'’

I started giggling before having to clutch the back of my head, the laughing hurting my fragile brain. ‘'Okay,’' I managed after a moment. '’What about um, describe something to me. Someplace. Uh, tell me about your favourite place. I'll probably never see it anyway, even if I do fix my sight so you don't have to worry about describing it wrong.'’

‘'What do you mean, describing it wrong? I did a great job,'’ he mock argued.

'’You didn't seem real sure about the colour of the walls,'’ I replied.

'’Okay, fine you have me on that one, but that's not my fault, men and women see colours differently,'’ he argued. ‘'Okay, my favourite place is this little coffee shop near my mom's apartment building. I used to work there when I was in high school because they would let me bring my siblings there while I worked. They'd sit at one of the tables in the back by the holographic fireplace and draw, while I bussed tables. I used to go there every morning with my mom on my commute to college, because I thought she could use the break.'’

‘'You said you had a lot of siblings, I can imagine she had her hands full,’' I replied.

‘'It wasn't too bad but my dad worked long hours, so did she and then just before my youngest brother was born my dad got into an accident at his construction site and didn't make it, I was in college then, so I coped fine, but I feel bad for the younger ones. They'll never know him like I did,'’ he said. '’But I tried my best to be a good role model, and it's that place, it's filled with so many good memories that I'm sure even after I enlisted here they can still go there, it's their place too.'’

‘'It sounds nice, but you didn't describe what it looked like at all, all I know is it's in suburbia and there's a fake fire,’' I told him and he laughed.

‘'Sorry,'’ he chuckled. '’I thought we were just sharing.'’

‘'I like the library by my old group home,’' I told him. '’I don't even live close anymore but sometimes, when I'm nearby I just go in to read or to just sit and stare at the walls. I spent so much time there growing up that just the peeling green paint, the graffiti on the walls and dingy, dusty smell, it feels like home. I miss the weight of a fat stack of books, having to walk so carefully home so I didn't drop on on the way. Carrying too many to even have in a bag. God, I miss it so much.'’

‘'Your library had paper books?'’ York said.

‘'Excuse me?’' I replied.

'’Like, physical paper that you turned the pages of?'’ he continued.

'’Yeah, oh not more of this space crap, don't tell me, what did your library have? Holograms?'’ I crossed my arms.

'’Well, yeah,'’ he said. '’You had a holo-board and you could just plug it into one of the stations to download a new book that you could project out of it and then you could take it home or you could go sit somewhere and read it there,'’ he explained awkwardly. ‘'And then if you didn't remember to renew your lease it would delete itself from your board and you had to go back and re-download it.. you really didn't have any of those? Man, I thought we were poor.'’

‘'I wasn't that poor, I just grew up in the 20th century, on Earth before you get started on that,’' I rolled my eyes, or at least I think I did. I don't know if I can do that anymore.

‘'How hard did you hit your head Marisa,’' York said seriously. '’No, something's definitely wrong with you.'’

‘'Fuck you,'’ I told him and he grabbed one of my hands.

‘'I'm really, really serious,’' he told me. ‘'It's the 26th century. Do you know how old you'd be to have been born back then? I don't know what's wrong, how you don't believe in space travel, why you don't understand about holo-boards and different planets, but something is really wrong.'’

‘'Look, this is going too far. Just stop it, I don't wanna play your stupid fucking games, Jesus, York, we were having a good time, why can't you just talk to me rather than spinning this joke. I'm fucking sick of it! Is this some kind of stupid attempt at getting me to leak top secret information or something?’' I screamed at him. '’Well fine! My name is Marisa Holtz, I'm 5ft 3 but I always lie and tell people I'm average height which is 5" 5' because I'm sick of the short jokes and people using me as an armrest. I'm 120 pounds and I used to take kickboxing classes as a kid because there were these thugs that used to hang out by the library and nobody was gonna get between me and those fucking books. I'm 25 years old. I'll be 26 in two months and that'll officially mean I've been alive longer than both my parents by a year. I hate celebrating my birthday because even though I didn't wanna be around people when I was a kid that's how I always ended up on the day and it fucking sucked. I hated feeling lonely and like I needed people so if I didn't celebrate I wouldn't get my hopes up. I've been working towards this fucking job for years and I'm finally making headway amongst all the sexist jerks and then I got fucking blown up and lost my sight. So just quit it okay, we're not in the 26th century, we're not in space and holo-boards or whatever aren't fucking real.'’

‘'I..'’ he stuttered and then there was the sound of a door opening up.

'’Hello you two,'’ I heard a cheery female, Scottish voice and some footsteps entering further into the door. '’Sorry to interrupt whatever you were yelling about, but I thought we might try to get to the bottom of this sight problem.'’

‘'Please,'’ I replied, swallowing the rock in my throat.

'’Now, looking at your eyes, the irises haven't gone, milky or cloudy as you might see if you had an infected cornea or if you'd had the trauma to the eyes rather than the back of your head. Which is good news. We had a good look when we did your scan, there's no vitreous haemorrhaging and no retinal detachment and while that does mean we don't exactly know what's causing your blindness and it's permanence, it is actually good news, it means we've narrowed it down significantly.'’

'’So what now?'’ I asked.

'’Well, I think it's an issue with signals getting to the eye from the back of your head, which is where the swelling damage was. But if it's not that, the only other thing it could be is damage to the optic nerves themselves. Which will be a pain. If it's what I think it is, once your brain settles back down, you should get your sight back by itself, but if not, I'm not really sure we have a lot of options. It's the 26th century but we still really don't know a lot about the human brain,’' the doctor said and I scoffed.

‘'You too huh?'’ I asked.

‘'I beg your pardon?'’ she asked.

‘'You're in on it too,'’ I replied.

‘'She thinks it's the 20th century still,'’ York explained.

‘'No I don't,’' I corrected. '’I grew up in the 20th century, it's now the 21st.'’

‘'Still incorrect,'’ he argued.

‘'This is troubling,’’ the doctor hummed. ‘'Perhaps we should do that scan now..'’

‘'That won't be necessary,’' I heard a southern male voice in the doorway. I heard York frantically throwing himself up in the chair beside me and a snort by the door. I wondered what was going on.

'’Marisa,'’ I heard Carolina's voice again. ‘'Let me introduce you to the Director.'’

‘'Uh.. hi..'’ I waved a singular wave in the vague direction of the door.

‘'Leonard Church,'’ he greeted suavely. ‘'And Doctor, while the specifics are still up in the air, I believe miss Holtz is telling the truth. You really are from the 21st century aren't you?'’

‘'At fucking last, someone sees sense,'’ I sighed in relief. ‘’Yes, I’m from 21st Century Missouri where I was..’’

‘’Where you were working on developing semi bio-organic replacement limbs, I know,’’ the Director told me and I stuttered. How could he know that? ‘’Are you aware the United States Government thinks you’re dead? According to Earth’s records you died the night of the explosion alongside hundreds of other personnel in the project. Imagine our surprise when you pop up over 6 hundred years later on Venezia, a completely different galaxy. So, do you have any theories on how you ended up here?’’

‘’I.. I’m sorry what?‘’ I blurted out eventually. ‘’I thought you believed me, that you were on my side. But you can’t possibly… it’s not possible. No. NO. This isn’t real. You can’t just jump hundreds of years into the future, you can’t jump galaxies. We don’t even have the technology to jump from room to room. It’s all just theories, fiction… This is some ridiculous joke.’’

‘’Marisa, how tall are you?’’ York asked. 

‘’I already said, 5ft 3. Why is that what you’re thinking about right now?’’ I demanded. I heard shifting beside me. The tray table that had been brought forwards so I could drink my water earlier was moved away. 

‘’I’m going to help you stand up,’’ he told me. There was a firm grip at the top of both my arms and then I was yanked up out of the bed. My bare feet hit the decidedly cold metal ground of the room, which, thanks to York I knew was brown. I never really noticed before how large his hands were until he had them resting on my upper arms. Before they’d been there only seconds, now they lingered, they were huge. I figured his would be bigger than mine, he was a guy after all, but they were bigger and then some. 

‘’Okay, now what genius,’’ I snapped. 

‘’You wanna know how tall I am?’’ he asked. 

‘’Not really,’’ I replied and he sighed. 

‘‘’I’m 7ft 6,’’ he told me. ‘’Let me explain something to you..’’

‘’No you genetic freak,’’ I cut him off. ‘’I’m not taking in any new information right now. This has been enough for today. I can’t do this anymore. It’s too much.’’

‘’I’m kinda curious as to where you were going with that, York,’’ Carolina chuckled. ‘’Last I checked height doesn’t actually affect you..’’

‘’Shut up,’’ he replied. ‘’I was going to explain all the Spartan stuff, I figured the medical stuff might help catch her up on the history, get her to believe it because living breathing proof of it is standing in front of her. And you’re here, what are you 7” 4?’’

‘’7” 2,” she replied. “But most people are above 6 foot now. It’s not that special..”

“Hey guys I’m still fucking here and I don’t care how tall you are,’’ I yelled. Although now that I thought about it, now I was on the ground, all the conversation was happening rather far above my head. I lifted an arm up towards my face and then put it out in front of me, jabbing angrily at the body in front of me. 

‘’Ow stop that,’’ York scolded. 

‘’Where’d I jab?’’ I asked. 

‘’You’re jabbing me in the belly button, what’s wrong with you?’’ he asked. 

‘’Okay, I believe you’re a giant, now put me the fuck back to bed,’’ I yelled. ‘’Or else you’re not going to like the next place I jab.’’

‘’Come on York,’’ Carolina said. ‘’It’s getting late, let’s clear off like the others.’’

‘’Wait, everyone else left?’’ I asked, turning in her vague direction. 

‘’Pretty much as soon as York started talking about his height,’’ Carolina answered. ‘’I’ll stop by tomorrow, mostly because I wanna see you punch York. Night Marisa.’’

‘’Yeah, night,’’ I sighed. I was still stood in front of York, his hands still resting on my biceps. I brought my jabbing hand up to my face and ran my hand over it. This was all so much to take in. 

‘’Hey, don’t cry,’’ York said. 

‘’I didn’t know I was…’’ I said, wiping away the tears pooling in the corners of my eyes. ‘’This is just all so much,’’ I was almost choking on the rock in my throat. I leaned forward, wrapping my arms around the person in front of me. My head hit just below his ribs, in the soft underside of his belly covered just by a thin t-shirt. He was radiating heat. I didn’t realise I was shaking. One of his hands gently held the back of my head. There was still a large dressing on the back of it, I could feel it now his hand was resting on it. I wondered if I’d been too harsh on my first doc. He  _ was _ a prick though. 

‘’It’s going to be alright,’’ he told me. ‘’If what the Director says is true, then I understand this is a lot to take in. The head injury alone is a lot, and now you’ve got to deal with jumping centuries and galaxies. But I’m here for you, we’ve got this.’’

‘’Okay,’’ I nodded. ‘’But I’m going to hold you to that. You better not leave me till this is over.’’

‘’I promise,’’ he said. 

A few more minutes of us standing there like that passed and then he helped me back into my bed, bringing the water over close enough I could get some if I wanted it but not so close I’d knock it over in my blindness. He gave the top of my head a gentle ruffle before flicking off the lights. I didn’t know why, considering I was blind now, but then I heard the chair beside me scrape a little and a weight sink into it. Of course, I still probably had a guard. Well, at least it was him. 

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

I blinked myself awake and then sighed. Still darkness. I reached a hand up to my face to wipe the sleep from my eyes. I had no idea what time it was, what day it was. Nothing. How long had I slept for? How long had I been in this infirmary?

‘’I was hoping all of this was some shitty dream,’’ I said, mostly to myself. 

‘’Still blind then?’’ a new male voice asked. I jumped. ‘’Sorry, I’m Wash.. I mean agent Washington.’’

‘’It’s fine,’’ I said. ‘’I’m still getting used to the whole, blind thing.’’

‘’I hope you don’t have to,’’ he replied and I smiled softly. 

‘’Yeah, me too,’’ I answered quietly. ‘’How long was I out for this time?’’

‘’Not long, or long… I don’t know.. My shift is almost over,’’ he replied. ‘’But they’re short shifts between the volunteers.’’

‘’Volunteers?’’ I asked. 

‘’Yeah, you’re not exactly a threat you know,’’ he explained. ‘’So the team who found you just volunteered some of themselves to be your guard for the easy money. York seemed to be the only one legitimately worried about you. Mind you, he did find you. Also.. I realise that makes me sound like an asshole, I just mean..’’

‘’Shut up Wash, it’s fine,’’ I replied. ‘’Tell me more about where I was found.’’

‘’Venezia?’’ Wash asked. ‘’Yeah, York mentioned you don’t remember how you got there.’’

‘’I just remember seeing the pine trees, and the icy mountain tops,’’ I replied. ‘’I had enough time to think, oh shit, I can’t do anything about this and then I came into contact with the ground. I tried to flip myself I think, I don’t know why but I seemed to get it into my panicked mind that if I could just land on my feet I’d be fine. Although I would have certainly broken my legs, maybe more from that fall. It must be because of that that I hit my head, because I remember falling face first. I don’t know how the damage could have been at the back of my head.’’

‘’I know I saw him carrying you, there was a lot of blood,’’ Wash told me. ‘’You’re pretty lucky to be alive, even if this situation isn’t ideal..’’

‘’I know,’’ I sighed. ‘’I should be more grateful, it’s just.. You ever spend a long time working towards something and then in the flash of an eye is bursts into flames in front of you?’’

‘’I tried to ask out this girl once, and I’d been working up the courage for months, I finally see her outside of work, I’m going over to her, and just as I’m about to say, ‘Hey, can I buy you a drink?’ she gets up, walks over to the bar and ends up leaving immediately for a one night stand with York, so yeah, I know a little about that,’’ he replied bitterly and I snorted. ‘’Oh, I’m glad you can see this as funny.’’

‘’Sorry, you just sound so angry right now,’’ I said. ‘’And I know that itself shouldn’t be funny, but I’ve just been so caught up in the drama of this whole situation it’s nice to hear something  _ normal  _ for a change.’’

‘’Hear that Wash, someone thinks you’re normal,’’ I heard a new male voice in the doorway. ‘’Hi Marisa, I’m North Dakota.’’ The voice introduced. There was no other sound and the voice didn’t move, that must mean he stayed put by the door. 

‘’Hi,’’ I replied. ‘’Are you guys older than Wash, he sounds younger?’’

‘’How could you tell that?!’’ Wash cried out and I chuckled. 

‘’Yeah, most of us are in our 30s, Wash is probably about your age,’’ North replied. ‘’You have good ears, that’ll probably be a big help to you.’’

‘’What’ll be a big help to her?’’ I heard York’s voice and couldn’t help but smile. I don’t know what made me trust him, having only spoken to him for a few hours, but I did and I felt a great deal of comfort with his presence. 

‘’North says I have a good ear,’’ I replied and I heard the sound of footsteps entering the room. They were light and quick, I wondered who’s they were. 

‘’Just one?’’ he teased. 

‘’Hey, why are you here York, it’s not your shift,’’ I heard Wash say standing up from the chair. ‘’I thought it was North’s time to take over.’’

‘’I know,’’ he replied. ‘’Thought the two of them might like some company.’’

‘’How thoughtful,’’ Wash grumbled. ‘’It’s a shame you didn’t extend the same courtesy to me.’’

‘’I had to sleep, Wash, I’d just done twelve hours in an op and then six hours here,’’ York replied. ‘’Which is more than I can say for you, lazy, who just came in here, took a nap and then have nothing else scheduled for the day.’’

‘’That’s not true,’’ he whined, I couldn’t tell if he was blushing but for some reason it sounded like it. He sounded bashful. ‘’I had plans later with Carolina. She was going to train with me.’’

‘’You mean you were going to get your ass handed to you by her,’’ North teased. 

‘’Hey, if I’ve learned anything about Carolina it’s that those two are one in the same,’’ York replied. ‘’Pretty much any activity with her ends like that.’’

‘’What’s the matter York, can’t keep up?’’ I teased, myself, making North and Wash laugh and ‘oooh’ at it. 

‘’Looks like she’s not the only one who can run rings around you, Yorkie,’’ North commented. ‘’We’d better watch this one. Come on Wash, you’d better get out of here, wouldn’t wanna make you late for your date.’’

‘’It’s not a date,’’ he whined. 

‘’Yeah sure,’’ York chuckled. 

There was some more shuffling of footsteps, three sets I think. One set headed towards the door, one into the room towards the chair and one from somewhere in the middle of the room closer to me. There was a huffing noise from the plush mattress and then the shifting of some weight a little farther down from me and then the sound of a chair scraping. 

‘’Hey kiddo,’’ York said from the end of my bed. I must have looked confused. I smiled in his rough direction and went back to trying to listen to the room. The heart rate monitor was still beeping away rhythmically, the rubber cuff around my finger sweaty and pinching uncomfortable. 

‘’So was he blushing when he left?’’ I asked. York and North laughed in surprise. 

‘’How’d you tell that?’’ North asked. 

‘’He sounded bashful when you teased him,’’ I replied. ‘’He has a crush on her, I’d bet money on it.’’

‘’You don’t have any money,’’ York said. ‘’But I think you’re right.’’

‘’He’s not exactly subtle,’’ North agreed. ‘’Has your blindness changed in any way since yesterday?’’

‘’No,’’ I sighed, tilting my head down towards my lap. ‘’I was hoping, if I didn’t wake up to this all being a weird dream that I’d at least see blurs, flashes of light, shapes or something. But still nothing but darkness.’’

‘’Man, that sucks,’’ York grumbled from beside me. 

‘’I did start brainstorming ideas on how to fix it though,’’ I perked up, thinking about the technology I’d been dreaming about last night. ‘’I’ll have to see what the tests come back with though. Well, not see…’’

‘’The doc actually came by at the end of my shit to say they had the results back, I imagine she just wanted to let you sleep,’’ York told me. 

‘’Do you guys know if there’s anyone on this ship in a similar field?’’ I asked. ‘’I might not be able to see but I bet if I told him how to do it, they could build what I need.’’

‘’I don’t know,’’ North replied. ‘’We’re not exactly a science vessel. We mostly just have people who know specifically about our project and that’s that.’’

‘’Way to give her hope, North,’’ York grumbled. I smirked, chuckling to myself. 

‘’It’s fine,’’ I said. ‘’It’s day one, I’ll figure something out.’’

‘’You’re a lot more optimistic than you were yesterday,’’ York pointed out. 

‘’I’m always excited when I get a new project,’’ I shrugged. 

‘’That’s good to hear, Miss Holtz,’’ I heard the Director’s southern drawl in the doorway. I frowned, I hadn’t heard him coming either. 

‘’It’s Doctor,’’ I replied. ‘’It may have been issued hundreds of years ago, but I’m sure my PHD still stands. Also are you aware you have very quiet footsteps? They rival even Carolina’s in audibility. I thought if there was anyone who’d have assasin-like footsteps it would be someone on some kind of stealth team or something.’’

‘’I’ll keep that in mind, Dr Holtz,’’ he said, sounding amused. ‘’Now, we can’t send you back. We don’t know how you got here in the first place and if we did it’s unlikely we’d be able to replicate the process, but I’m here to offer a silver lining.’’

‘’Oh?’’ 

‘’A job,’’ he replied. ‘’Having researched you extensively last night, you were once regarded as one of the most promising minds of the 21st century. And after familiarising myself with your work, I think you could do great things here for our project too.’’

‘’Yeah one problem,’’ I replied. ‘’In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m still blind.’’

‘’For now it would be consulting work,’’ he explained. ‘’And you’d have free reign of our labs where you could work on your own visual impairment should it not improve on its own.’’

‘’What about files?’’ I asked. 

‘’What about them?’’

‘’I want free reign on information,’’ I replied. ‘’My files, Earth’s history, anything I’ll be working. I want everything.’’

‘’Very well,’’ he agreed, sounding caught off guard. ‘’I’ll give you what you’ll find useful in regards to what you’ll be working on, your own files and anything you want to catch you up on recent history.’’

‘’Can I have a dog?’’

‘’Now you’re getting ridiculous,’’ he told me. 

‘’I’m blind,’’ I deadpanned. ‘’I mean a seeing eye dog.’’

‘’For now you can have an escort,’’ he said. ‘’York will do for now.’’

I heard him turn this time, the light footsteps barely audible as he exited. I chuckled to myself, turning to York’s general direction last I heard him. 

‘’What are you chuckling about?’’ he asked, confirming his location. 

‘’You’re a babysitter,’’ I answered, making North laugh beside me.

‘’There are worse jobs I’m sure, at least this one I’m not going to get shot at,’’ he replied.

* * *

I wondered what it must look like, to anyone who entered my hospital room right now, to just see me staring blankly off into space, probably unblinking. I’d been forgetting to do that, now they didn’t glaze over when I was thinking to myself. I could feel them getting dry from time to time, that’s usually what reminded me to do it, and then I’d have to do it a few times to make up for it. I wondered if I’d end up needing eyedrops or would I simply adjust. 

‘’Hey York,’’ I said. There was silence. ‘’You awake?’’ I asked. I could still hear him breathing so I knew he was still here. 

‘’If I say no will you believe me?’’ he replied. 

‘’Is that you telling me you’re tired?’’ I asked. 

‘’What’s up?’’ he asked with a yawn. 

‘’Does you being my babysitter mean you have to stay by my side all the time?’’ I asked. 

‘’Getting sick of me already, kiddo?’’ he said but I could hear the grin in his voice. 

‘’Hospital chairs are pretty notorious for being uncomfortable,’’ I said. ‘’You shouldn’t have to spend the foreseeable future crumpled into one. Especially not at your age..’’

‘’I’M 32!!!’’ he yelled in distress. I giggled, covering my mouth as I lay back against my pillows. There was a little while of comfortable silence while I could feel sleep creeping up on me even though I’d done fuckall all day. ‘’Tell you what, tomorrow I’ll take you for a walk and we can stretch this old man’s legs.’’

‘’It’ll likely be a very slow walk,’’ I said. ‘’If you really are over 7 feet tall. Because I’m both short and blind.’’

‘’I think I’ll survive,’’ he told me. 

I settled myself in the bed that, for the first time since I was a child, felt rather roomy. It was an odd feeling, still being able to dream, of course I knew that was all a different part of the brain, but I could still see in my dreams. I saw projects, memories, abstract crap, I saw it all and then when I opened my eyes instead of seeing light, I was enveloped in darkness. 

_ I was walking home from work, I’d worked late because I was trying to push myself. I had to get this latest project done as quickly as possible and it had to be the best. If not then the jerks from the same lab would be right, I should leave it to the guys. Ugh, they were so frustrating.  _

_ I heard a scuff as I was walking and looked back at my shoe, great, there was a big ass rock sticking out of it. I walked closer to the brick wall I’d been passing and leaned up against the hot surface, reaching down to pull out the stone.  _

_ Suddenly I was hurtling towards the snowy ground and I was screaming. I was seconds away from death and there was nothing I could do. I had to stop myself, if I didn’t, I’d hit the hard ground and I’d die. I fought against the air current, desperately but it was no use. I felt myself make contact with the ground and then everything went black.  _

I threw myself up, I could feel a thin sheen of sweat coating my body, a singular bead sliding down my neck and spine. I could hear frantic beeping on my left and I tried to calm myself down. Why couldn’t I see? Oh. That’s right. I’m blind. Struggling to breathe I tried to calm myself down some more. Tuning out the beeping I realised I wasn’t the only one in the room. There were strong arms wrapped around me and a deep voice above me, speaking soothing words. I took a deep breath. Of course, York. I was still being babysat. I leant my head back, taking another deep breath and then slowing my breathing down. It was just a dream. It’d already happened. It was just a dream. It’s over. 

‘’Are you okay?’’ York asked. 

‘’Sorry,’’ I said. 

‘’That’s not what I asked, you don’t have to apologise for dreams, you can’t control them,’’ he said. ‘’Now, are you alright?’’

‘’Yeah,’’ I nodded. ‘’I just hit the ground again.’’

‘’I’m sorry,’’ he said. ‘’Is this the first time you’ve had this dream?’’

‘’Yeah,’’ I agreed. 

‘’Then hopefully this is the last time as well,’’ he said. There were a few more minutes of me trying to calm down before we spoke again. ‘’How’s about that walk?’’

‘’Sounds good,’’ I said and he helped me down from the surprisingly tall bed. He’d helped me up off this bed once before, but I’d been freaking out so much I hadn’t noticed it’s height. Or his height difference. I guess he was a lot taller than me. What must it look like, for someone as short as me standing next to someone as tall as him.

I held his forearm as we walked, my bare feet on the cold metal flooring of the infirmary. It wasn’t a long walkthrough there, there was a small number of beds, though, I supposed it was a spaceship. He escorted me out of the infirmary, walking me up and down a few corridors. He said he didn’t want to take me too far away from the infirmary, in case something happened but I think it was also because I imagined I was still being watched. No way were they just going to have kept me under constant guard for the entire time I’d been there to just giving me free reign of the ship day 2 after waking up. Blind or not. 

Eventually we had to go back, I was getting kinda tired, you can’t undergo major brain surgery and then come out of a coma and expect yourself to be olympic level fit. There was a lot more recovering to be done. But at least I still functioned right, even if incredibly slow. My limbs still knew how to walk, to hold, to move. 

York hoisted me back up onto the bed with relative ease and I started day-dreaming about how I was going to fix my eyes. Give myself the gift of sight. There was a shift change, York left and I barely noticed the two shift changes until his return. I was too focused on how the mechanics would work, figuring out what would overload it. What factors would I have to consider if I made it an entirely internal system. 

When York did return I was kind of tired so I settled myself on top of the pillows and closed my eyes. I fell into darkness like I did everytime I went to sleep only to be brought back into the light. I was dreaming again. The world had colour, I could see things.  _ The burnt orange bricks on the wall I was walking past had hairline fractures in them, only visible if you got incredibly close. They were grainy in texture. The setting sunlight was casting a warm, yellow glow on everything. The pavement beneath my feet was hot, I could feel it through my sneakers.  _

_ Tomorrow would be better. I’d get more progress on the project I’d been working on and then I’d show those sexist scientists a thing or two. I heard a scuff on the sidewalk and looked down at my shoe. There was a rock stuck in it. I stepped closer to the wall and leaned against the burning surface, flicking the stone out from the soul. I pushed off again, heading to the parking lot where I kept my old bomb of a car.  _

_ The air felt electric, I felt goosebumps on my arm. The atmosphere around me felt like it was going to burst open, but I couldn’t explain why it felt like that. I turned my head to the side, the building next to mine was the first thing I saw. It was nothing. But, why did I need to look? There was a flash inside visible through one of the windows and it piqued my interest. But before I could think further on it, there was a blinding blue ring that built around the building. I opened my mouth to scream, what the hell was that? _

_ And then I was screaming. I was seconds away from hitting the cold snowy ground. I fought against the aircurrent, but it was no use. I made impact with the cold, hard ground and suddenly I was enveloped by darkness.  _

I shot up in bed, a scream falling from my mouth before I could catch it. My heart raced again and I could hear the heart rate monitor going off again and I sighed. It was just a dream. It’s over. It already happened. It’s over. 

‘’Marisa,’’ York said, hands on my shoulders. 

‘’It was just a dream,’’ I told him. ‘’I know,’’ I sighed. ‘’I’m good now.’’

‘’This is two nights in a row,’’ he told me. ‘’Was it the same one?’’

‘’Kinda,’’ I said. ‘’I saw more this time, I wonder if it’ll be the same tomorrow.’’

‘’I don’t want to see you like this again tomorrow, maybe I should talk to the doctor, stop these dreams if we can,’’ he said. 

‘’No,’’ I replied. ‘’They’re useful,’’ I ran a hand through my hair. ‘’I remember once, when I was a kid the people running my group home sent me to therapy. I don’t remember my parents dying, or I didn’t until one day. I think it was just after parents day at school, another year having no one to come, I sat up in bed, just like now, covered in sweat. I was just a toddler, there’s no way I could have remembered that but there I was, reliving it. As traumatic as it was having to remember it all in detail, I found it helpful. Once it was over. My therapist said our dreams are our unconscious mind’s way of working through our problems and sometimes it’s more helpful to see it through, rather than to stop them. She said something about people who weren’t very good at communicating or dealing with their issues are more prone to dreams but I’m electing to ignore that part.’’

York chuckled. ‘’Yeah, no idea where that came from. Let me know if it gets too much, if this goes on too long we need to find another way to deal with it.’’

‘’I know,’’ I said. ‘’I just wanna see where this goes.’’

And so I settled back into the pillows and followed my routine. Wake up, chat to York for a little while, climb out of bed and walk with him. Go back to bed, chat some more, have a shift change, think about my sight problem, shift change, more thinking. York comes back, more sleep. More nightmare, wake up, chat, walk ect. 

_ ‘’We’ve been using vibrations to simulate the electrical impulses the brain is failing to send and we’ve been having promising results, too bad the government shut down that project,’’ I heard someone say as I was walking out the door. I paid no attention to the cluster of men in white lab coats.  _

_ The sun was beating down on me as I walked the two blocks to my old, beat up car. I passed the burnt orange bricks quickly, stopping only when I heard scuffing on the pavement. There was a small rock stuck in the rubber soul of my sneakers. I leaned up against the wall of the building to knock it out and then continued on my way.  _

_ The electricity in the air caught my attention. Goosebumps formed on my skin. There was a flash off to my right and I turned. A harsh blue light circled the building. I opened my mouth to scream. The circle shrunk momentarily and started to close in around the building before it grew brighter than I even thought possible and blew, sending a massive shockwave powerful enough to total the buildings around, sending bricks and debris flying everywhere. The ground beneath me ripped open to reveal a black void and I was knocked off my feet by the wave, sending me hurtling into the rift.  _

_ The hot air was gone, suddenly I was cold all over, my skin burned with the wind ripping by me as I was hurtling towards the ground. But I was going too fast. And then I hit the ground. _ I threw myself up in the darkness. This time my scream wasn’t of fear, it was anger. I growled. 

‘’NO,’’ I yelled. ‘’Fuck. God fucking damn it. What did he say? What was he talking about?’’

‘’Are you okay?’’ I heard North say. I turned to the sound. North wasn’t usually here. 

‘’Yeah,’’ I sighed. ‘’I’m just mad at myself for not paying attention to my coworkers when I had the chance.’’ I heard a snort beside me. 

‘’Not what I was expecting you to be mad about,’’ York said and reached down for my hand. He placed a slightly wet with condensation cup in my hand. 

‘’What is this?’’ I asked, looking up and to the side to where I thought he was.

‘’I told you I was a barista before this, didn’t I?’’ he replied. ‘’Well the thought occurred to me, that there has never been a better opportunity for a blind taste test than now.’’

‘’You’re a weird man,’’ I told him and then brought the cup closer to my face. ‘’I take it it’s iced coffee.’’

‘’Nurses wouldn’t let me bring in hot coffee in case you threw it at someone,’’ he replied. I snorted. ‘’You laugh but people have done it.’’

‘’How far were they expecting me to throw it,’’ I replied. ‘’And accurately.’’

‘’Just drink the damn coffee,’’ he said. I put the bamboo straw up to my lips and screwed up my face instantly. I was overwhelmed almost immediately with overbearing sugar. I pulled it away from my mouth, trying to work out what it was. 

‘’Okay,’’ I choked. ‘’I’m getting caramel, was I supposed to?’’

‘’Yes,’’ he said. ‘’What else.’’

‘’I don’t know,’’ I told him. ‘’I drink black coffee that someone burned hours earlier. Um, it’s milky. But I mean, it’s iced….’’

‘’You’re hopeless,’’ he told me. ‘’It’s an iced caramel macchiato.’’

‘’Ah, you’re favourite,’’ North commented. ‘’Wanted to start strong I see.’’

‘’Please take this away from me,’’ I said and heard North chuckling. 

‘’And she seems to like it about as much as the rest of us,’’ he continued. 

‘’She’s got brain damage, her opinion can’t be trusted,’’ he slumped down in the chair, and I assumed he was sulking. 

‘’Is he pouting,’’ I asked. 

‘’No,’’ ‘’Yes,’’ they responded at the same time and I giggled. 

‘’I keep thinking I’m getting close to figuring out how I can repair the part of me that’s broken and then I figured out what I’m missing,’’ I said. ‘’And then I remembered, there was this guy I hated back at my old job who said something about the visual centre of the brain just as I was walking out of the building on the day of the accident. So I’ve been dreaming about it, but I can’t quite catch what he said. I know it has something to do with vibrations mimicking the electricity the brain fires to send signals. But that’s all I got.’’

‘’That’s not a bad place to start, Marisa,’’ North encouraged. ‘’You’ve been working on this, what, a week and a half?’’ 

‘’And it’s only going to get harder from here on out,’’ I told him.

‘’Optimistic,’’ York said sarcastically. 

‘’I’m serious, how am I supposed to build and test anything if I’m blind?’’ I said. ‘’I’m using myself as a guinea pig. Because even if there was someone else I could practice on, I’m too blind to see the results.’’

‘’You’ll figure it out,’’ York told me. 

‘’Didn’t the Director refer to you as one of the most promising minds of the 21st century?’’ North asked. 

‘’How do I know he’s not just schmoozing?’’ I asked. 

‘’You don’t know him like we do,’’ York muttered. 

‘’Trust us,’’ North said a little louder. ‘’He’s not the kind of guy to give out compliments, much less to people he doesn’t see the value in. He doesn’t really do the whole flattery to get what you want thing, either.’’

‘’You can trust if he wants you, he has a plan for you,’’ York said. ‘’You’re incredibly useful to him, or you wouldn’t still be here.’’

  
  
  



	3. Chapter 3

‘’Damn it,’’ I growled to myself as I sat up in bed, yet again unable to gain any new information on what that unmanned scientist had said. 

‘’It’s always nice to hear you so bright and chirpy first thing in the morning,’’ York commented from the doorway. I raised an eyebrow. Usually he was sitting in the chair beside me by now. I turned to the chair, trying to figure out if someone else was there. 

‘’I’ve got good news,’’ he said, walking over to that side of the room, dropping a pile of something on the bed beside me and sitting in the presumably empty chair. 

‘’What’s up?’’ I asked. 

‘’You’re getting out of here,’’ he told me. ‘’Director’s assigned you your own quarters now, and it’s right near your lab. And,’’ he patted the pile he’d dropped on my bed. ‘’clothes.’’

‘’A little archaic, don’t you think, in this century, to think the way to a girl’s heart is clothes,’’ I said, smirking and he chuckled. 

‘’Well if you wanna keep rocking the oversized hospital gown, be my guest,’’ he replied. ‘’I just thought you might want to wear something that actually fits.’’

‘’Nah, the 80s and 90s were really big on baggy clothes,’’ I said. ‘’I feel a little nostalgic actually.’’

‘’I’m closing the blinds and then leaving, you get dressed,’’ he told me. I heard him get up and walk up to the wall of windows he’d described to me and then I heard some fiddling with various cords and something metallic and then I heard him go to the door. 

‘’I’m blind, how do I know you didn’t just open them further,’’ I asked with a grin.

‘’Guess you’ll just have to trust me,’’ he replied and closed the door. 

Carefully, I ran my hand over the pile, trying to work out what I’d been given. There was a roll of socks, some underwear, a sports bra and some sweats. I pulled at the various strings of my gown, unsure exactly which ones would release me so I removed them all. I tried to put on all the clothing I could without having to remove the sure to be noisy pulse monitor cuff from my finger. Then it was off, I threw my bra over my head and then I put it back on so it would stop frantically flat lining. There was a knocking at the door and I called a quick come in. 

‘’Out of curiosity, why’d you put that finger thing back on?’’ he asked. ‘’We’re about to leave.’’

‘’I hate the noise,’’ I replied. ‘’Now my turn, did you just decide I wouldn’t need a shirt or..’’

‘’Wait, there’s no shirt?’’ he asked. He came over and lifted up the sheets around me and then I could hear him ducking under the bed. ‘’What the fu..’’

‘’Missing something?’’ I heard Carolina from the doorway. 

‘’Yes,’’ I replied. ‘’This package delivery boy is useless, have him fired.’’

‘’I found this on my way to meet you, I presumed it was York who dropped it,’’ there was a brief flapping noise as a folded t-shirt landed in my lap and I shook it out, running my fingers along the neckline looking for the tag. Once I found it I pulled it over my head. 

‘’So,’’ I said. ‘’Freedom?’’

‘’Freedom,’’ Carolina confirmed.

York stood up from where he was in front of me and wrapped his arms around me, lifting me to the ground and then walked slowly in front of me. I’d done this walk out of the room often enough now that I had the muscle memory but I still liked to have someone close by to grab onto when I psyched myself out. 

‘’You guys think I should have been counting my steps?’’ I asked after the fourth turn from the infirmary.

York snorted from beside me. ‘’Too late now,’’ he said and then grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back. I felt the aircurrent of someone passing by me, any closer and we would have walked into one another. 

‘’Watch where you're going pipsqueak,’’ they said. 

‘’You fucking watch where you’re going asshole,’’ I blurted out before I could catch myself. I kept walking, and I heard York snort again beside me. 

‘’I can see you’re going to fit in well here,’’ he commented. 

‘’How come he yelled at me but not you, we’re walking beside each other,’’ I asked. 

‘’York and I are on the leaderboard,’’ Carolina answered. ‘’It’s not exactly a hierarchy, but…’’

‘’You’re big cheeses?’’ I replied. 

‘’Sure,’’ she scoffed. ‘’We’re big cheeses.’’

‘’Also those guys are just assholes,’’ York told me.

I smiled at that and let the two continue to guide me along the halls of the ship. After what seemed like forever of just walking I started to feel a little disheartened. And kinda tired. Not like I’d collapse or anything but, I’d like to stop doing it soon. Man, major brain surgery really takes it out of you. 

‘’Where are we going?’’ I asked eventually. I assumed it was my room, or maybe this lab I’d been promised, but I was blind. 

‘’Director wants to see you before we take you to your lab and quarters,’’ Carolina explained. 

‘’Why is it taking so long?’’ I sighed. 

‘’Because you’re little and recovering from major surgery,’’ York replied simply and I sighed. 

‘’You guys normally walk way faster than this, huh?’’ I asked and I heard York snort. 

‘’Yeah,’’ he replied and I sighed again. 

I don’t know what possessed me but I reached out beside me, slightly higher in the air and grabbed hold of York’s forearm, hoping he’d drag me along with his faster pace. He gave no indication this was a problem however, unless it was written on his face and I simply couldn’t see it. I was still tired and annoyed but it bothered me less now I was being tugged along by York. 

‘’Wait here a moment,’’ Carolina said and I huffed out a relieved breath. 

‘’Thank god,’’ I replied. 

There was a knock on what sounded like glass, a whooshing noise similar to the doors of the infirmary and then they whooshed closed again. I stood awkwardly by York, holding his arm as I waited, trying to hear something, anything. About ten minutes passed of painful silence and the door whooshed a third time. 

‘’He’s ready for you now,’’ Carolina said and I felt York head in first, guiding me through the doorway. We walked maybe ten feet and then I felt large hands on my shoulders guiding me in front of a too tall chair. Same hands then gripped my shoulders firmly and hoisted me into it. There was the sound of footsteps walking behind me and then they stilled. Sounding like York was waiting behind me. 

‘’At ease, Agent York,’’ I heard the southerner say, making me jump slightly, even though I knew he was here. ‘’Marisa, how are you feeling?’’

‘’Still blind, but I imagine you gathered that,’’ I said. ‘’Otherwise I seem to be working normally. But I think I’m still recovering from the surgery, or it was amazingly simple for me to get out of shape. The walk here was more challenging than I’d like to admit.’’

‘’That’s to be expected,’’ he replied. ‘’You’re also recovering from significant blood loss. It’ll take some time, but I’m confident you’ll recover. Now, I thought you’d like to discuss your new job here a little more.’’

‘’Yeah, consulting on what exactly? I’m not sure how much help I’m gonna be if technology has moved on several centuries since my not quite death,’’ I replied. 

‘’That won’t be a problem,’’ he told me. ‘’You’ll be creating your own.’’

‘’Huh?’’ 

‘’When I was going over your work, I noticed your designs, your projects, the technology didn’t fit the time. You create things in a way no other engineer did in the 21st century. And, we’re working with groundbreaking, previously unheard of technology here, so it shouldn’t be a problem,’’ he explained. 

‘’Alright, so what’s my first project?’’ I asked. 

‘’Just like that?’’ he asked. ‘’You don’t have any other qualms about working here?’’

‘’I mean, I didn’t really do much else other than work before I exploded so?’’ I shrugged. ‘’Work, eat, sleep, repeat. I didn’t have any family, or friends, just my work. It’s one of the reasons the military targeted me in the first place, I was vulnerable, mouldable. Name a better candidate to work for them than me? And while they tend to respect men more, they see women as more controllable so I was perfect. Not that I really fought against it much, as far as I saw it, they were a means to get what I wanted. And now I’m dead.’’ 

I paused. ‘’So, it’s not exactly that difficult to continue that here in this century. Even if I did want to do something, I don’t technically exist anymore so it’s not like I can just put my resume out there to get some options. And even if I could, that’s a lot harder to do now I’m blind. So yeah, it’s that simple. I work here now. You make sure no one murders me, I make you cool shit.’’

‘’Alright,’’ he replied. ‘’Well, you have at your disposal the best this organisation has to offer in terms of lab equipment and resources. We don’t have any current projects in mind for you as we’ve been incredibly fortunate to only have two major field injuries that may require your expertise. One of which is a similar injury to yours, which brings me to my next point. For the time being, your main objective will be returning your sight by any means necessary.’’

‘’What’s the other injury?’’ I asked. 

‘’Injured larynx, beyond natural repair,’’ he said. 

‘’To the point of a laryngectomy or is any portion of the voice box intact? Can the patient still breath through the mouth? I think I already have a way to fix that if there’s any part remaining, if not I’d just need to replicate an artificial larynx which that in itself is easy, what’s difficult is making sure the body doesn’t reject the implant, which is why people have been experimenting for years with..’’

‘’I’ll let you go over the details with medical staff if need be,’’ he told me. ‘’Until then, should you need anything you can let Agent Carolina know and she’ll pass it on for you. Or Agent York while he’s still at your side. I imagine once you’re settled in your lab you won’t need him anymore and can be returned to active duty. If there’s nothing else, you’re dismissed.’’

‘’Right,’’ I stuttered out. ‘’Of course, I’ll see you round.’’

I shoved myself forward in the chair, toes touching the ground and I made the slight jump to the floor. I stepped round the chair and took a few steps before I reached out in the direction I last remembered hearing York. I made contact with him immediately and he grabbed my hand, leading me back out of the room. 

I huffed as we walked, more out of frustration than fatigue and I felt York squeeze my hand gently. I wondered what it must look like, someone as short as me holding hands with someone as tall as him. The thought brought a smile to my face as I tried not to think about the Director. 

‘’What’s his problem?’’ I asked. 

‘’That’s just what he’s like,’’ York explained. ‘’You hungry?’’

‘’I guess,’’ I sighed. 

‘’Come on, let me take you to the mess hall before we go to your lab and you can hang with the rest of the guys. That’ll cheer you up,’’ he said and I nodded, smiling in his direction. 

There was more whooshing and he led me around the groups of people through the much noisier room. After a few minutes I was steered over to one side and lifted up onto a metal bench a little far from the table. 

‘’Alright, here’s North, stay put I’ll be right back,’’ he told me and then I heard his footsteps leave. 

‘’Sup,’’ I greeted the air in front of me and I could hear someone a few feet to my left and across from me chuckle. 

‘’Hey Marisa, good to see you again,’’ he greeted. ‘’I see they let you out, or is this a jail break?’’

‘’Nah, Director wants me working instead of sulking,’’ I shrugged. ‘’I’m headed to the lab after this to try and figure out how to be blind.’’

‘’You seem to be managing okay so far,’’ he told me. 

‘’Yes, because I have a very loyal seeing-eye York to guide me in everything,’’ I replied. ‘’The Director said as soon as I get settled he’s returning to active duty, which, ignoring all the questions that raised, makes me a little nervous. I’ve never been blind before.’’

‘’I get it, this is new and scary, and I can’t say I’ve ever experienced the same but, I’m sure you can get through this, you’re smart, you’re adapting already, you’ve got this,’’ he told me. I smiled softly. 

‘’Thanks North,’’ I said. 

‘’I see team Dad has already started on you,’’ I heard Wash say from beside me and then sit down on my left. ‘’Good to see you out of the medbay.’’

‘’Good to be out of the medbay, I swear if I hear my own heartbeat again I might kill someone,’’ I replied and he chuckled. 

‘’Is York being nice to you?’’ he asked and I smiled. 

‘’Not at all,’’ I told him. ‘’He took my lunch money, gave me a swirly and this morning, he ran me over with a car.’’

‘’Hey you deserved that swirly,’’ he told me and then sat down on the bench beside me. ‘’Here, I tried to grab things you didn’t need to see to enjoy.’’

‘’I’m trying to think of a joke but I can’t,’’ I replied. 

‘’Something, something penis?’’ Wash said beside me and I laughed. 

‘’Close enough,’’ I told him. 

‘’Don’t think I’ve seen you here before, shorty,’’ I heard and I furrowed my brow. I turned around to the sound of the voice and raised an eyebrow. ‘’Damn you fine.’’

‘’Yep,’’ I agreed and then turned back around to the table. 

‘’You got plans later?’’ he asked. 

‘’Yep,’’ I replied. 

‘’Well how about after, we go to the rec room and I show you a good time,’’ he said. 

‘’I’m not sure you can,’’ I said and I heard choking beside me. ‘’And I’m still busy, so no.’’

‘’Well what about tomorrow?’’ he asked. 

‘’Dude, I don’t know how much clearer I can make it, no,’’ I said. ‘’Not now, not tomorrow, not a month from now. Not ever.’’

‘’Alright listen,’’ he started and I rolled my eyes, I spun on the bench and frowned at him. 

‘’No you listen,’’ I told him. ‘’I don’t know who let you go on believing you’re hot shit this long but this is me telling you you’re not. So listen clearly wannabe ladies man, you’re not smooth, you’re not some catch and you’re certainly not special. So you can just turn around right now, march yourself back to where you were before all this and go about your business, because this is not happening. Ever.’’

‘’No need to be such a bi..’’

‘’FUCK OFF,’’ I yelled. I heard retreating footsteps and spun back round in my seat. 

‘’See, you’re fitting in just fine around here,’’ York said from beside me, breaking the silence we’d been sitting in. 

‘’You think I was harsh?’’ I asked. I heard Wash snort from beside me. 

‘’No,’’ he said. 

‘’That guy’s an asshole, it’s about time someone stood up to him,’’ North said. 

‘’Sorry I didn’t say anything, it was just too funny watching you yell at him,’’ York said. ‘’You’ve got a temper.’’

‘’It’s like I never left the 21st century,’’ I said. ‘’I used to have to beat men off with a stick and I’ve been out of the infirmary for what, an hour or two and it’s begun.’’

‘’Never beat men off with sticks,’’ York said. ‘’Hands are much more pleasurable.’’ I snorted and shook my head. ‘’I’m serious about that temper, we’ve had you out of that medbay for an hour and half and you’ve been in two fights.’’

‘’I’m glad I can be so entertaining,’’ I rolled my eyes. ‘’I can’t wait to be back in the lab, who cares if I just stand around and stare at the wall all day it’s gotta be better than this.’’

‘’Don’t feel too bad, the guys here are just desperate for sex,’’ York explained. 

‘’Yeah, and I can understand why,’’ I replied and Wash choked. I turned to see if he was okay and then remembered I was blind and he could die beside me and I wouldn’t notice. ‘’Look, someone else comes over to hit on me, just save me the trouble. Shoot me in the head.’’

‘’I see you’re taking the rehabilitation into the outside world well,’’ I heard Carolina’s voice and heard her sit across from me. I smiled at her, or in her direction. 

‘’How do you deal with it? Or are you exempt because you’re a big cheese?’’ I said and she paused. ‘’Some guy hit on me and I ripped him to shreds.’’

‘’I don’t get it as much anymore, being on the leaderboard will do that for you,’’ she told me. ‘’Because nothing’s more of a turn off than confirmed kills numbering in the hundreds.’’

‘’Okay, now how do I do that in my line of work,’’ I said. ‘’Seems like I would get sued for malpractice.’’ She laughed. 

‘’Honestly keep ripping men to shreds and your rep will get around,’’ she told me. ‘’Once you’re not a shiny new toy things should settle down.’’

* * *

‘’So,’’ York said awkwardly. ‘’Any idea on where you wanna start?’’

‘’Well,’’ I said, reaching out in front of myself as I slowly wandered around the room, trying to get acquainted with it. ‘’No.’’

‘’You want me to describe the room again?’’ he asked. I smiled to myself. 

‘’Thanks but, if you’re not going to be here 24/7, I might wanna get used to doing things on my own,’’ I replied. 

‘’I don’t mind, you know, helping when I can,’’ he said. 

‘’I know,’’ replied. ‘’I just don’t wanna fall apart when you go.’’

‘’Oh you’re gonna fall apart,’’ he told me, grin sounding in his voice. ‘’I’m a delight. And without my amazing personality to keep you company your life's gonna suck.’’

‘’Okay,’’ I said. ‘’What about you tell me what I’m looking at right now?’’

‘’You know, we probably should have brought someone who knows what all this stuff does down here,’’ York said and I laughed. 

‘’Okay, I’ll figure that out later, I’m not up to making anything anyway. I’ll tell you what, I’ll walk you through what I’d normally do when I start a new project back home and you tell me how I’d go about it now I’m here, yeah?’’ I suggested. 

‘’That I can do,’’ he said and marched over to where I’d wandered. ‘’But first, you look dead on your feet, so, chair.’’ he steered me over to a bench and hoisted me up into the taller than it should be chair. 

‘’Normally I’d grab a pen and paper and write down all the things I need what I’m making to do, I already know but, it helps me visualise it. Make sure I’m not forgetting anything when I see it mapped out in front of me. Then I’d maybe note down some points of research, find out what I need to do to make it happen,’’ I said. ‘’And then I’d get my hands on as much information on the topic as possible, including the research of others doing the same or similar things.’’

‘’Okay, pen and paper I can’t help you with because I don’t understand how blind people write, it may involve braille somehow,’’ he told me. ‘’And we’d first have to teach you to read braille and uh, I don’t know we have the time. And the research, I can totally get you. And I’m probably going to have to read it to you..’’

‘’Do you guys still use keyboards?’’ I asked. ‘’For like computers and stuff.’’

‘’I mean kind of but it’s all holo-tech so there’s no physical buttons per se,’’ he told me. ‘’Why?’’

‘’When I was learning typing at school one of the things we had to be able to do was touch type, or typing without looking at the keys, using muscle memory for the letters and we had to be accurate or we couldn’t move on,’’ I explained. ‘’If I could get a hold of a physical keyboard I could totally type without much of an effort. I wouldn’t need to see because I can still type and that removes the need for pen and paper to write stuff down. We had in my time, this text to audio software where the computer would read out what you fed into it, so it could read back my notes to them when I’d need a reminder and the research.’’

‘’Alright, so how are you gonna do all that?’’ he asked me. I frowned, if they really didn’t have keyboards here, I’d have to come up with something on my own. I wish I had my laptop from work with me. It would be so much easier if I did but I was here in the future. Unless..

‘’When you found me, did you recover anything with me, did I have anything on me?’’ I asked. 

‘’What are you expecting you just took a keyboard home with you from work? A stay one fell out of the air in the explosion and came through the rift with you?’’ he snorted. 

‘’No,’’ I smirked. ‘’But I did have a laptop in my bag.’’

‘’We did recover a bag, but..the technology wouldn’t really be compatible, I don’t think, if it’s hundreds of years old. If it’s even in salvageable condition’’

‘’Doesn’t matter,’’ I told him. ‘’I rip the keyboard from it and I can come up with some kind of adapter setup to hook it up to whatever system you’ve got running. I’ve done it before, I was always messing around with connecting old technology to the new stuff.’’

‘’Alright,’’ he agreed. ‘’I’ll ask Carolina to look into your stuff. What next?’’

‘’Tunes,’’ I replied. ‘’Music helps you think.’’

‘’That I can help you with,’’ he chuckled.

* * *

The doors to the lab whooshed open as York and I were sitting cross legged on the benchtops, knees touching and listening to his “jams”. We were laughing and talking and sharing stories about our childhoods again like we did when I was still in the infirmary. It made me feel a little sad inside that someday, and soon, it sounded like, he was going to leave and all the warmth I had in my life would go with him. It was silly, I barely knew him but having someone with me through everything while I couldn’t see made me feel like it wasn’t so scary. But the reality was, I was cold and alone. The dark surrounded me and it was deafening. 

‘’What is this noise?’’ I heard Carolina say from the doorway. 

‘’York’s been trying to teach me about the good music of this century,’’ I called back and she laughed. 

‘’I think you have the wrong teacher,’’ she said from beside me. 

‘’Hey Marisa, I’m here too,’’ I heard Wash announced. He was good about that, trying to not sneak up on me. He always did it when he was on “Marisa watch” in the infirmary too. 

‘’I managed to track down your bag and the clothes you were wearing when we found you. The bag was actually recovered a fair way away from where you were found, and catalogued in our system. When I was enquiring about it I found it in the ship’s logs. All yours,’’ she told me and placed the satchel in my lap. 

‘’Perfect,’’ I grinned and pulled the flap back and undo the zipper. I reached into the bag and pulled the heavy piece of equipment out only to feel my face fall. 

‘’Problem?’’ York asked. 

‘’You could say that,’’ I sighed, putting a second hand into the bag and pulling out my laptop in two separate pieces. It had been broken through the middle, snapped most likely, but not on the hinge where it would have been useful. ‘’Damn.’’

‘’Well, there goes that plan,’’ he said. ‘’But it’s alright. It’s been what, an hour? You can come up with another way.’’

‘’Yeah,’’ I sighed. I stuck my hands in the bag, feeling around for what else was there. My hands brushed past paperwork, books my notepad, some loose paper clips and pens. I grabbed my phone for a second while I dug through all the stuff that had once been incredibly important and what was now useless crap. 

‘’You actually like this music?’’ Wash asked and I laughed softly, still feeling a bit down. 

‘’I think I finally understand what it feels like to be an old person, and young whippersnappers’ music being the devil,’’ I replied. ‘’But when I was younger, I used to hate being made to listen to classical music. When my neighbours played smooth jazz anything before I was born. I bet if you guys were to hear anything from my time, you’d hate it too.’’

‘’It can’t be that bad,’’ Wash said. 

‘’I wonder if I’d be able to recover any of it from my phone… you know what Wash, you might actually be a genius,’’ I said. York laughed from his spot in front of me.

‘’Oh?’’ Carolina asked. 

‘’Yep,’’ I grinned all to myself. I reached into my bag and pulled my phone out of my bag. ‘’This ladies and gentlemen, is the Motorola Droid. Observe,’’ I said and pushed the screen up to reveal a keyboard beneath. 

‘’It’s tiny,’’ York said. 

‘’It’s pocket sized and portable and that’s actually better,’’ I said. ‘’It fits in my pocket. You know that was the best thing about waking up 600 years into the future, mankind has finally acknowledged women need pockets.’’

‘’Did women not have pockets in your time?’’ Carolina asked. 

‘’Worse,’’ I replied dramatically. ‘’We had FAKE POCKETS. Who DOES that? Just either give me pockets or none at all. Don’t sew in a line of LIES and pretend like you give a damn. Fuck you and just give me pockets. Where am I supposed to put my KEYS, my PHONE, my WALLET and most importantly my hands when my fingers get cold? I’d like to see your BAG do that, SIMON. I don’t know who Simon is but I’m sure it’s somehow his fault.’’

‘’It's truly astounding the horrors women of the past have had to live through the atrocities you’ve had to suffer,’’ Carolina replied sarcastically.

‘’Look I mean of all the things I have to legitimately complain about, there is a very small, possibly non existent list of those I can actually fix. So I will complain about the things I can instead,’ I shrugged. ‘’Can’t fix the pay gap, the harassment in the workplace, underrepresentation at universities, domestic violence, being unable to walk anywhere ever without being harassed or murdered, being told tank tops are skimpy and I should cover up because my shoulders are distracting boys, any time I go and report a crime I’m asked what I was wearing when it happened, any time I get into a fight with a man I’m asked what I did to deserve it, so yeah, pockets. Please give me pockets,’’ I said. 

‘’This all sounds incredibly bleak,’’ I heard North in the doorway and beamed, turning my head in his direction. ‘’But it does make me wanna invent time travel and go beat some people up.’’

‘’Yes,’’ I grinned, pulling my fist towards my chest. ‘’North, the greatest ally against the patriarchy.’’

‘’That’s a new one,’’ he said and then I heard him walking over closer. ‘’I have a special delivery from the Director to help you out, maybe not to fight the patriarchy but it should make your work easier.”

‘’I’ve met the guy what twice, and I’m already getting presents, come on dude, play hard to get,’’ I joked and I could feel the air shift. ‘’What?’’

‘’Never mind,’’ Carolina answered. ‘’Our program uses artificial intelligence systems to help with our missions and run our equipment.’’

‘’Makes sense,’’ I nodded. 

‘’And so the Director has loaned out this to you,’’ she said and then someone put what felt like a very thin cheeseboard on my lap. 

‘’And this is..?’’

‘’This is a more solid version of our holoboards, it’s loaded with Chi, an AI which can help you out during your time here,’’ North explained. 

‘’And if the two of you bond well, the Director will schedule you for implantation once you’ve recovered more,’’ Carolina continued. 

‘’That is not a real thing,’’ I replied in disbelief. The AI thing I could get behind, that made sense. We have AI back in my time. Integrating one into my body, that seemed improbable at best and stupid at worse. Had they not seen Terminator, this seems exactly how a machine uprising could start. 

‘’This is like the space ship bullshit all over again,’’ I picked up the board. ‘’This is not happening. This is not a thing.’’

‘’Ma’am, I can assure you,’’ I heard another voice, vibrations coming from the board and I screamed, throwing it forward and York. I could hear soft chuckling in front of me, at least York was getting some entertainment out of this. 

‘’Calm down slugger,’’ York soothed. ‘’It’s okay, it’s real, and it’s not going to hurt you. I’ve got my own AI, his name is Delta. He’s the brains of this operation and helps me out whenever he can.’’

‘’That is not in the least bit surprising,’’ I told him and Wash and North chuckled. ‘’I can’t believe future people are just straight up putting other consciousnesses in their head. Y’all didn’t have any concerns?’’

‘’Dr. Holtz raises a good point, while implants have been a success up until this point, all of the science behind the AI is experimental and untested at best,’’ I heard someone say. 

‘’Thank you Dee, that’s enough,’’ York said. 

‘’All I’m saying is if Dr. Holtz has any queries they would be perfectly justifie…’’

‘’We got it Delta,’’ York said more firmly. ‘’I need you to log off, you’re scaring her.’’

‘’Fear is logical,’’ Delta replied. 

‘’Ominous,’’ I commented. 

‘’Don’t worry Dr. Holtz,’’ the voice I’d thrown at York chimned. ‘’I know we’re going to be alright. We’re going to get along just fine and your implantation will be a success.’’

‘’Well you’re awfully cheerful,’’ I grumbled. 

‘’I think we get paired with AI’s that are our opposites, to balance us out,’’ Wash said. 

‘’What’s  _ that  _ supposed to mean?’’ I asked and I heard him gulp. 


	4. Chapter 4

I was sitting on the bench top again, letting Chi search for file after file for me while I tried to type up notes on my latest idea. The team had been right and Chi had been invaluable to me in sourcing research material for me and assisting me in converting my phone into a keyboard that I could connect to my holoboard. 

I’d seen less of York lately since he’d been returned to rotation on the team’s rosta and gone on several missions since then. My first night in my room had been tricky, figuring everything out on my own because I refused to let anyone help me, but eventually I got understanding of my surroundings. And Chi had my back, he’d been rather odd, he was the labtech I’d always wanted when I was working for the US army and always seemed optimistic and supportive of my every endeavour. I was a little suspicious, but I guess that was just this AI’s personality. 

‘’Okay,’’ I slid my phone shut. ‘’Chi I think we’re ready to start drawing up some designs, figure out what this thing is going to actually look like.’’

‘’Awesome,’’ he replied enthusiastically. ‘’This is gonna go so great.’’

‘’You’re going to have to do the leg work on this one, I can’t really see what it’s going to look like, but I think we’ve discussed what I want in enough detail you should be able to pull it off,’’ I told him. ‘’One step closer to putting myself back together.’’

‘’Hey you,’’ I heard and my head shot up in the direction of the door, a grin on my face. 

‘’York!’’ I called out. 

‘’Long time no see,’’ he replied. ‘’You wanna get your grub on?’’

‘’I could eat,’’ I said. ‘’What do you think Chi?’’

‘’I wanna keep working on this, it’s so important to you,’’ he told me. ‘’You should go with York, and when you come back, I’ll show you my designs.’’

‘’I know it’s important to me Chi, but we can take a break,’’ I said. ‘’Come on, there’s more to life than being stuck in here. You should stretch your legs a little.’’

‘’Fine,’’ he replied. 

‘’You wanna keep working on it at lunch?’’ I smiled softly and he quickly agreed. 

‘’Your AI is a nerd,’’ York teased. 

‘’So’s yours,’’ I smiled. ‘’Looks like you’re outnumbered three to one, you still wanna get lunch?’’

‘’It’s more like dinner and yes,’’ he replied. ‘’I think I can take you.’’

‘’Oooh, hear that Chi, York’s taking us to dinner,’’ I teased and he laughed. 

‘’Sorry Agent York but we’re very busy and don’t have time for boyfriends,’’ Chi replied and I giggled, assuming he was joking but being unable to tell with the tone he’d used. 

‘’Come help me down and we’ll go,’’ I called to York, instinctively reaching out towards him. I’d memorised the sound of his footsteps both armoured and in civvies so I always knew when he was nearby. I pushed myself off the table a few moments before he’d reached me and he caught me without faltering, lowering me easily to the ground. 

‘’You seem to be getting along well,’’ York commented as we walked along the corridor, my holoboard under my arm and phone in my pocket. 

‘’I’m still a little suspicious the machine uprising is coming,’’ I joked. ‘’But yeah, it’s the first time I’ve had a labtech that didn’t swing his dick around the office thinking he knows more than the one with a doctorate.’’

‘’I think you should file for harassment if someone’s swinging their dick around your office,’’ York told me. ‘’Do I need to tell North?’’

I laughed and moved behind him when I noticed we were getting closer to the familiar noise of the mess. I usually stood behind him whenever we used the doors so I wouldn’t have to deal with people walking into me. I’d been walking around longer than a month now, I thought word would have spread around by now that there was a short angry blind woman wandering around. I wasn’t hard to miss. 

‘’Great news, mon petite,’’ York said turning back to me. ‘’It’s Taco Tuesday. I hope you like fake Mexican food because that’s all this ship is full of. Best third Tuesday of every month.’’

‘’What do you mean fake Mexican, tacos are Mexican, it’s just the hard shell ones that are American,’’ I replied.

‘’You’ll see what I mean when you taste it,’’ he replied and I offered him a bemused smile. 

He led me to our usual table and I sat down, hearing his footsteps disappear. I heard North and Wash walking over sitting down in front of me. 

‘’Hey Marisa,’’ North greeted. ‘’Wash and I here.’’ 

‘’I know,’’ I smiled. ‘’I’ve got your footsteps memorised now. It’s just Carolina I’m trying to get now. She’s so quiet that if there’s a lot of background noise, she’s virtually undetectable.’’

‘’I’ll keep that in mind,’’ she said from behind me and I jumped. 

‘’Jesus Christ! We need to get you a fucking bell,’’ I yelled. I did hear her let out a very quiet, breathy laugh. I heard York returning and scooted over closer to where I’d heard Carolina sit down so he’d have enough room beside me. I felt something brush across the front of my knee and assumed either Wash or North was sitting directly across from me. 

‘’So this is what you rushed off to do when the mission debrief was over, huh?’’ Carolina teased. ‘’Had a dinner date planned?’’

‘’Shut up,’’ York brushed off. ‘’You know I’m still her guide dog, even if I’m back to doing missions too.’’

‘’What makes you think she needs you?’’ Carolina asked. ‘’She seems to be coping perfectly fine by herself.’’ I moved my hand off my lap and reached over under the table to softly pat his knee. 

‘’I do miss you guys when you’re gone,’’ I said. ‘’You’re the only people in my life besides Chi.’’

‘’I thought you hated people and had no friends on purpose,’’ Wash said. 

‘’I hated the men of my time and was angry that all the women I came across seemed to make the fight against the patriarchy harder because they were always sleeping with our bosses for research grants and promotions. It always reinforced the belief that women were in our field as nothing more than sex objects,’’ I replied. ‘’I disagreed with people. Not hate them. I had a friend once, she was awesome and I wanted to be just like her. But I just didn’t have any time for anyone else’s bullshit. You guys are different, none of you have once tried to get me to wear heels to work or grabbed my ass as I stood at my workbench. Of course I miss you.’’

‘’I don’t know, I think Carolina tried it once but you move too quick,’’ York joked. 

‘’I just can’t keep my hands to myself,’’ Carolina deadpanned. ‘’Your booty just won’t quit.’’

I choked on my corn chips. I heard York let out a burst of laughter and North and Wash chuckling softly. I was even giggling to myself, never hearing her make jokes like that. While she’d been nothing but kind to me, she seemed very serious and work dedicated. Like she didn’t have time for anything but her job, oh. She was future me. 

‘’Chi I can practically feel you squirming,’’ I said after a while. I hadn’t had him implanted yet but I felt like I could read him well enough without our impending Vulcan mind meld. ‘’How you going?’’

‘’I think I’ve got a winner,’’ he told me. ‘’You’re going to love it. I can 3D print a copy of it when we get back to the lab and you can check it over. It’s just like we talked about.’’

‘’That was quick,’’ I commented. ‘’Good job.’’

‘’I try,’’ he replied, sounding bashful all of a sudden. 

‘’You wanna start pulling up some research material on our other project?’’ I asked. ‘’Start with my branch’s databases, see if any of my dumbass coworkers came up with anything since I left.’’

‘’How dumb can they be if you’re stealing their ideas?’’ Wash asked and I chuckled. 

‘’I’m not,’’ I replied. ‘’Reading through their stuff usually gives me a migraine and then I figure out a better way to do what they were trying to. It’s inspiration to further the world of science so no one is ever experimented on like that again.’’

‘’Although I will admit, had I not been having those dreams about what Dr. Smith was talking about when I left the day of the accident, I never would have even thought about artificially stimulating the visual part of the brain,’’ I continued, swallowing some of my fake Mexican food. It was more like fake food than fake Mexican. It didn’t exactly taste bad, but it did taste wrong. Like, it didn’t exist as I was eating it. 

‘’I must say, I really hope this works, because if it doesn’t it’s probably not the designs, not to toot my own horn or anything… I don’t even begin to know what Chi and I are going to do if it’s a different part of the brain. I’m kinda pissed it’s not the eyes to be honest, because I already developed an artificial lens implant for that.’’

‘’Wait you have?’’ York asked and I nodded. 

‘’Yeah, my project got shut down due to lack of funding but it was past development and we just needed a human test subject,’’ I answered. ‘’Worked on the rats and the monkey we fitted it on. I had my eye on this giraffe for a little while but my boss thought that was dumb. Blindness doesn’t discriminate, that giraffe could have gone on to do great things if he hadn’t have stood in it’s way.’’ I joked. 

‘’I can’t tell if you’re joking or not,’’ Wash said and I smiled. 

‘’I kinda am, I’m kinda not,’’ I replied and North laughed. 

‘’Which part is you fucking with us,’’ York asked. 

‘’There was a blind giraffe at the local zoo that I asked my boss if we could try it on, because I saw the report on the news and I felt sad,’’ I explained. ‘’But my boss said we weren’t a charity organisation and it was my job to make money and prepare soldiers for going back to the field. If I couldn’t do that then I should walk my pretty little ass out of his office and into a different career.’’

‘’What’d you say?’’ North asked. 

‘’Might have implied I already made more money than he did and brought the departments more bread than he ever could,’’ I shrugged. ‘’Then suddenly the project was canned.’’

‘’Petty,’’ Wash replied and I nodded. 

‘’Life,’’ I shrugged again. ‘’But thankfully not mine anymore. Kinda bummed about the not seeing thing, but nearly dying in an explosion has really worked out well for me.’’

‘’You’re more cheerful about this than usual,’’ York commented. 

‘’Chi must be rubbing off on me,’’ I told him.

‘’Gross,’’ he replied. ‘’I didn’t know AI could do that. Delta, you’d better not get any ideas..’’

York walked me back to the lab after dinner and it kinda felt like he wanted to hang around for a bit but he kept mentioning that he had to go train during his scheduled slot and I didn’t want him to be late so I sent him on his way. According to Carolina and North they were pretty strict about those kind of things. And it’s not like I could go watch. 

Chi seemed pretty happy after he left too, it was almost like he was jealous whenever York got more attention than he did. It was cute if that was the case, but I’m pretty sure he was just extremely work focused like myself and Carolina. 

As promised, Chi had printed me a model of our design and when I ran my fingers over it it felt exactly like I imagined it looking. I smiled, telling him it was a job well done and that he should write off to the Director for me that my project was ready for testing. He happily started constructing a message while I worked on listening to the different files that he’d pulled up for me. It was difficult for me now, not being able to read through everything now, having to listen to it and take notes, repeating paragraphs over and over as I did instead of just stopping reading, scribbling something down and then going back to it. I was usually a visual learner. I basically had to learn how to learn all over again. 

I slipped off the bench onto the cold floors, someone from the quartermaster had sent off an order to one of the resupply stations to get me shoes specially made along with some more clothes but it would be awhile before we would get them. Which didn’t really bother me, I had socks and being able to feel the floor helped me a little bit with finding my way around. I could feel the vibrations of people coming and going too, so it made it easier to know if Carolina was near if I was standing by myself. 

I climbed into my far too big bed, placing the board Chi currently occupied on the nightstand and wished him a goodnight. I closed my eyes and slipped happily into the light. Dreams brought me back my sight, I knew it wasn’t real but I felt better not being plunged into darkness for the entirety of my life. I wondered how people who were born blind felt, how they experienced dreams. 

I pushed myself up out of bed, I didn’t need Chi to tell me what the time was, it was the same time I woke up every day and had done since my first night here. I sighed and wandered through to the bathroom getting ready to shower, then back through to the lab to work for a bit before I got hungry and went for breakfast. Worked some more, got lunch, worked some more and got dinner. My routine felt stale. It hadn’t before when I was back in the 21st century but now for some reason I was getting melancholy. I wondered if it was because I had friends now. I imagined it probably had something to do with not having the sight to do anything else, but I couldn’t blame everything on being blind, that was getting old hat. 

I yawned as I sat at the usual table in the mess, pushing whatever food was on my plate in the mess. I had bumped into North and sat with him for a little bit before he’d had to go but I missed York. I’d only seen him yesterday, it was weird to be missing him like this. Chi certainly didn’t want to talk about it either. He was rabbiting on about how the tests would come out on our project but I was barely listening. 

‘’I think I need a hobby,’’ I blurted out while he was mid sentence. 

‘’Is that what’s been bothering you?’’ he asked. ‘’Are you bored? Should we start another project?’’

‘’I never thought I’d say this but, I think it’s too much work,’’ I told him. ‘’I loved my job before, I still really like it now, but it’s all I do. I don’t want to stop but I don’t wanna just do the same thing over and over and over again.’’

‘’So not a new project…’’ he answered, sounding a little sad. ‘’I’m sure we can figure it out. What did you do before? You know, when you had free time?’’

‘’I used to be a gymnast when I was in school, I used to compete and used it to get me a scholarship in college,’’ I answered. ‘’That paid for what the military didn’t. So when I wanted to blow off some steam I’d go practice after work. But that’s not really something I can do now.’’

‘’Ahh,’’ he replied, not really sure what to say. I could hear him muttering to himself like he did when he was skimming through files. I wondered if he was still working as we were chatting.

‘’I know,’’ I agreed. ‘’There’s so many things I can’t do anymore. I mean I’m happy we’ve been able to find a way around things, like touch typing with my phone keyboard or remembering how to do everything in the shower because I usually had my eyes closed for the suds anyway.’’

‘’Wait,’’ he paused. ‘’You know how people shut their eyes when something scary is happening, like when people jump off cliffs or people who’ve never fired a gun before shut their eyes in movies?’’

‘’Yeah?’’ I asked. 

‘’Is that why you used to shut your eyes when you’d do tricks?’’

‘’What are you talking about?’’ I asked. 

‘’I pulled up your old gymnastics videos, your eyes are shut half the time, mostly on the balance beam, why can’t you just do that like the shower thing?’’ he asked me. 

‘’How could I convince the people in charge of scheduling time in the training room that I, a blind person, not only needs to use it, but I need them to conjure me up a balance beam?’’ I asked. 

‘’Are you asking me or...?’’ I heard Carolina’s voice from beside me. I hadn’t noticed her sit down. 

‘’Sorry, I was talking to Chi,’’ I told her. 

‘’I can help you, if you want,’’ she told me. ‘’I don’t know why you want one, but FILSS can conjure up pretty much anything you ask her for, to use your wording. And I’m the one who writes up the schedule for extra training, if you want some time on the floor, it’s yours.’’

‘’I used to be a gymnast before this, Chi thinks I can still manage it in my current situation,’’ I replied. 

‘’That would certainly be interesting,’’ Carolina replied. ‘’Finish your dinner, we’re going to the training room after this.’’

I was stood on a significantly colder than usual floor, in a large breezy room. I knew it was large because sound took forever to bounce back to me, and I imagined, if this was the room used for most of the training, it was breezy because of the air conditioning. Didn’t make me any less cold though. 

‘’You need anything else?’’ Carolina asked me. I shook my head. 

‘’So long as the beam’s here,’’ I replied. ‘’Not unless you got any chalk.’’

‘’Probably not,’’ she replied and I shrugged.

‘’Guess not then,’’ I said. I pulled my shirt up over my head and then bent to push down my sweat pants. ‘’You mind taking these, if I put them somewhere I’ll never see them again.’’

She snorted. “I’ll take them with me to the observation deck. I’ll be in there if you need me, just say the word,’’ she told me. ‘’I’ll leave you with Chi, he can help you out from here.’’

I took a deep breath, walking out with my arms in front of me. Once I found the beam I pushed myself up with relative ease. Once I was up there, it was a different story. The footing felt familiar, but the air was whirling around me. I’m sure it was the air conditioning. And probably that I didn’t notice before because my senses were paying much more attention to what I could see. 

‘’You good, Marisa?’’ Chi asked as I stood there a little longer, unmoving. 

‘’Yeah,’’ I replied awkwardly. 

‘’Looks like it,’’ he replied sarcastically and I wanted to laugh.

‘’It’s just, you know,’’ I said. ‘’I’m psyching myself out.’’

‘’Why? You got this in the bag,’’ he told me. ‘’You’ve done this thousands of times before, with your eyes closed no less. You can do this, you already have.’’

‘’I know,’’ I nodded. 

‘’Okay, close your eyes,’’ he told me. ‘’Maybe doing the physical action will take care of the anxiety.’’

I nodded, taking a deep breath and closed my eyes. I held it there for a moment, picturing what I wanted to do and then I let out my breath. I lifted my hands in the air and took a step forward, bending and standing on my hands, a swivel and I was standing on my feet again. There, a cartwheel, I did it. 

‘’See, that wasn’t so hard, you got this Marisa,’’ Chi told me. ‘’Now do another one.’’

‘’You be sure and let me know before I fall that I’m teetering towards the edge, yeah?’’ I turned to the sound of his voice. 

‘’I’ll never let you fall, don’t worry,’’ he told me. And I believed him. 

I threw myself with more force forward, cartwheeling with more speed before turning quickly and doing the same thing the other way. Chi cheered every time I finished a trick and I felt my confidence growing. He was right, I did usually do this with my eyes shut, so why couldn’t I do it now?

I wondered if I could do something a bit more challenging? Right now I was only doing tricks where I could still touch the balance beam in some way. What if I was to break contact with it completely? Could I do it? Was this false confidence? No, Chi believed in me. He said he wouldn’t let me fall. 

‘’Oh my god,’’ I heard him yell as I made contact with the beam again. I rolled forward over my shoulder after landing on my thighs, beam between them. ‘’Yeah! That was awesome!’’

I pushed myself up onto my hands, walking across the beam with my palms, leaning my legs over my head. I felt the strain as I took one and off the beam, reaching for my feet hanging just by my arching spine. I straightened my legs out, pointing my toes and then spread them open, going back to walking on my hands, turning around when I heard Chi making a strange beeping noise. 

‘’I didn’t know you could do that,’’ I laughed and he chuckled to himself. 

‘’Neither did I.’’

I began to regret having gone so hard after an hour and a half of training because it had been well over a month since the last time I was even in a gym and I’d lost all the fitness I usually held. Especially with York portioning out my food for me when he was around. I think he was trying to kill me. 

‘’Alright,’’ I groaned, dropping down to sit on the beam. ‘’If I do this any longer my limbs are going to fall off.’’

I climbed off the balance beam and my toes touched the cold floor again. I let Chi lead me over to him and I picked him up, getting him to signal to Carolina I was done for the day. She met up with me before taking me to her team’s locker room and filling me up an ice bath. 

‘’I’m sure this is fine,’’ I said. ‘’You don’t need to go to so much fuss.’’

‘’Don’t be like this,’’ she told me. ‘’You trained hard, you haven’t trained like that at least since you came here and you need to look after yourself if you want to do it again.’’

‘’Fine,’’ I sighed and I heard her chuckling as I lowered myself, underwear and all into the tub. 

‘’I’ve actually got to run, I have a meeting,’’ she told me. ‘’But I’ve got York on his way with some new clothes. Stay in here for 15, yeah?’’

‘’Yes mom,’’ I told her with a roll of my eyes and she laughed. 

I sat in the tub feeling some of the strain on my muscles leaving, even if the water was almost painfully cold. I relaxed into the edge, hoping my skin making contact with the side would generate some heat eventually. After a few minutes, I started to feel comfortably numb. I rested my head against the rim and sighed. I should know better than to train myself like this, Rosa was always telling me as much. I wanted to be a gymnast as a kid, not because of all the tricks, or because it was fun, but because she was. I loved her. I miss her. 

‘’Hey you,’’ I heard and jerked out of my thoughts. ‘’You didn’t hear me coming this time? Where were you just now?’’

‘’Thinking about an old friend,’’ I replied. 

‘’And what’s with you training this hard, hmm?’’ he asked me as I heard him kneeling beside me. ‘’You’re the science type, although the gymnast thing does explain why you’re so tiny.’’

‘’And also you’re a genetic freak,’’ I told him and he chuckled. ‘’I was bored.’’

‘’Bored?’’ he scoffed. ‘’You trained this hard because you were broed?’’

‘’I hate everything,’’ I continued. ‘’I love my job, but it’s all I can do, and even then, not well. It’s all I ever did before so now I don’t even know what to do now I can’t do it. Every day is the same, get up work, eat, work, eat, work, eat, work, sleep. Over and over and over again. Because it’s all I  _ can  _ do. So Chi helped me come up with something I could do to blow off steam. He watched every video over made of me doing this kind of thing and concluded since I shut my eyes whenever a scary bit came up, I might as well have been doing it blind. So we tried it.’’

‘’It’s been fifteen,’’ Chi said and I laughed to myself, pushing myself up out of the tub. I felt York's hands on my forearms hoisting me out over the step. He guided me to a nearby bench with a towel waiting and I wrapped it around myself, shivering slightly.

‘’It’s not going to be easy,’’ he sighed. ‘’You’re going to have to completely rethink everything you’ve ever done and learn it all over again. That sucks. And there’s not really anything I can say to make it better.’’

‘’You still gonna be here through all of it?’’ I asked. 

‘’Of course,’’ he told me. ‘’Even if it’s not really my job anymore, I’m your guide York. You’re my friend, of course I’ll be here for all of it.’’

‘’Then say that,’’ I told him, smiling sadly at the floor. A large arm dropped over my shoulders and pulled me across the bench, closer to him. He held me tight in a one armed hug. 

‘’Alright,’’ he said quietly. ‘’I’m here. I’ll always be here.’’

We sat like that for a moment, feeling the comfort in everything left unsaid. I hummed contently, we’d said just enough to keep us going but not enough to get hurt. I let out a shiver and he chuckled softly beside me. 

‘’You should probably get dressed,’’ he said. There was the sound of a pile of fabric dropping beside me on the bench. ‘’I’ll leave these here for you, get Chi to grab me from outside to lead you outta here.’’

‘’Got it,’’ I nodded and started using the towel to dry off. 

I stood up, the cold tiles almost felt warm now I was so numb. I pulled off my soaking sports bra and panties, reaching for the new ones in the pile. I tugged my shirt and sweatpants on my body and rung out the old underwear. I grabbed all my old clothes and towel, Chi assuring me if I put them in the hamper here they’d find their way back to me. Apparently all my stuff had been microchipped with my staff code. It was nice to know I’d been assigned one, that meant I technically existed in this time. 

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

I met York in the entryway to the locker room and he walked with me along the halls, him joking I was walking even slower than usual. I smiled as we walked. It took nearly half an hour to get back to a part of the ship I recognised, though, I did wonder why he was taking me back to the mess. 

‘’Post training snack,’’ he told me, sitting me at the usual table and disappearing off. I suppose I was kinda hungry. I heard his footsteps coming back and a clatter of a tray being put down in front of me. He jumped into the spot beside me and there was some more clattering and some chewing noises. 

‘’So how are you feeling now?’’ he asked. 

‘’Cold,’’ I replied with a shrug, feeling out for the tray in front of me. 

He took one of my wrists and led it towards a large coffee mug and I wrapped my cold fingers around it, sighing constantly as I felt the familiar burn. He dropped an arm around my shoulders when he was done too. I picked up my mug and blew on it for a few seconds and sipped the steaming liquid. I turned to give him a bemused smile. 

‘’What’s this?’’ I asked. 

‘’Did you forget I was a barista for years?’’ he asked. ‘’After many years of experimenting, chocolate goes best with spices or mint. So, chilli. Not a fan?’’

‘’No actually I just,’’ I paused. ‘’Rosa used to make this when we were kids.’’

‘’Who’s Rosa?’’ York asked. 

‘’My best friend,’’ I replied. ‘’We were friends at my first group home.’’

‘’Was there more than one?’’ he asked. 

‘’Two,’’ I said. ‘’There was an incident when I was six that meant I needed a new group home. This is a real blast, weird to think it’s been twenty years since I had hot chocolate with chilli in it.”

“What, you never make it yourself?” he asked and I shook my head. 

“It was our thing, I figured I’d do it again when I saw her next,” I explained. “But I never found her. I miss her sometimes. I never really made friends at my new group home. I just kept to myself, studying hard every day to get a job making robots, like I’d always wanted and then my side hobby was gymnastics because, even though it always reminded me of her, I liked it now for more than that.’’

‘’And she’s who you were thinking about earlier,’’ he mused and I nodded. 

‘’Hey Chi, you think you could find out what happened to her for me?’’ I asked. 

‘’Uh,’’ he tried. ‘’It’ll take some work. She was one person hundreds of years ago you only have a first name for but I’ll try.’’

‘’You’ve got my records don’t you? Look for people named Rosa at the same group home as me,’’ I said. 

‘’Got it, I’ll find her,’’ he told me. 

It got kinda late and I could hear the noise of the mess slowly taper off till it seemed like it was just the two of us. He took my hand eventually and led me out of the room. I felt kind of sad again, not wanting to stop being with him. He dropped me off at my room door and I went inside, dropping Chi down on the nightstand and climbing into bed. I sighed as I lay there, wondering just what was going on with my life right now. 

Chi woke me up the next morning, that was unusual. I sat up, rubbing my face. I’d let my mind wander last night, thinking about anything and everything. Rosa, York, my vision, my job. Everything had been swirling around my head, refusing to settle down until I ran things through several times in several different ways. 

‘’The Director’s had the medical staff and other scientists start testing your designs,’’ Chi told me and I nodded. ‘’That’s good right? A little longer and we can schedule you for your own surgery. You’ll be able to see again.’’

‘’If it works,’’ I grumbled. 

‘’It’ll work,’’ he told me. ‘’ _ We _ worked on it, it has to work.’’

‘’Your unwavering faith is a little obnoxious this early in the morning,’’ I told him and lay back down, throwing the blankets back over myself. 

‘’It’s nearly 11,’’ Chi told me. 

‘’Wake me for lunch,’’ I hummed and settled myself on my pillow, ready to go back to sleep. I was seconds away from sweat slumber when I was jolted awake. There was a hammering on my bedroom door and the sound of yelling voices. 

‘’Oh come  _ ON! _ ’’ I growled and shot back up. 

‘’Hey! Marisa come on, it’s nearly 12,’’ I heard York yell. I groaned and pushed myself up out of bed. 

‘’Maybe she’s not in there,’’ Wash told him. 

‘’Oh she’s in there, she wasn’t in her lab, the mess or in the training room. Only other place she could be was with the Director and I usually take her there,’’ York said. 

‘’What if she’s lost,’’ I heard Wash worriedly say and I opened the door. 

‘’I’m not lost, I'm sleeping,’’ I grumbled and I heard chuckling. 

‘’You look cute when you’re this mad, bedhead and all,’’ York teased and I sighed, turning around to go lay back down. 

‘’Come on, I haven’t seen you in forever,’’ Wash whined. ‘’I need backup against York and North.’’

‘’No,’’ I cried. ‘’I wanna sleep.’’

‘’Why sleep when there’s two attractive men at your door practically begging for you to come out?’’ York asked. 

‘’How do I know that? I’m blind,’’ I said and then turned to where I’d left Chi. ‘’What do you think, are they cute?’’

‘’Absolutely not,’’ Chi replied. ‘’Also it’s now lunchtime.’’

‘’Fucking hell,’’ I swored sitting up. ‘’Fine.’’

I climbed out of bed, grabbed Chi and headed to where I’d left York and Wash, marching to the mess. I muttered under my breath the whole way, complaining about assholes not letting me sleep and made my way straight to the table, sitting down and finding North already sitting there. I jumped when I climbed into my chair and felt our knees brush, making him chuckle and calling me cute. 

‘’What have you been up to, hair like that,’’ he teased. 

‘’Not sleeping, that’s for sure,’’ I grumbled, dropping my head on my arms. 

‘’You still on that,’’ York asked and stepped over the bench and plopped down beside me. ‘’Come on sleepyhead, it’s 12pm, that’s a perfectly reasonable time to be awake.’’

‘’I stayed up late last night because my brain wouldn’t shut up,’’ I replied. 

“Sleeping late is only going to make it worse,” North told me and I think I rolled my eyes. “I know, it sounds stupid but you just gotta get up and carry on. Maybe go to bed earlier tonight.”

“Yes dad,” I replied and sighed into the arm I was leaning on. “Sorry, I’m just in a bit of a funk right now. I thought the time on the beam would ease that but apparently not.”

“What’s bothering you?” he asked. 

“Yeah, maybe we could help,” Wash said almost as enthusiastically as Chi would have. 

‘’Thanks Wash but I don’t think…’’ I started but was cut off by the worried muttering of Chi. ‘’Chi?’’

‘’Uh, it’s fine, don’t worry about it,’’ he replied. I frowned. 

‘’When has that ever worked?’’ I asked and York chuckled beside me. ‘’Come on, you’re my partner, what’s going on?’’

‘’They’ve finished testing,’’ he told me and I chewed the inside of my mouth. ‘’Listen, it doesn’t necessarily have to be bad news..’’

‘’Come on,’’ I said. ‘’They’ve only been testing and going over it for a couple of days, Chi. That’s not good.’’

‘’What’s going on?’’ Wash asked, I opened my mouth to answer when I heard Carolina’s eerily quiet footsteps behind me and turned around. 

‘’Have you eaten or drank anything today?’’ she asked without greeting. I shook my head, I’d just been sitting beside the tray York had gotten me. ‘’Good, they’re scheduling you for surgery. The Director’s happy with the test results and wants it implante asap.’’

‘’What?’’ I stuttered as she leaned over and shoved my tray out of the way. She grabbed my forearm, yanking me out of my seat and over the bench. I panicked and made a grab for York who was beside me. ‘’It’s too early…’’

‘’He doesn’t think so,” she replied. ‘’As far as he’s concerned, since the other scientists have all agreed it’ll theoretically work, it’s good enough to implant.’’

‘’Right now?’’ I asked, loosening my grip on York’s shoulder. ‘’Chi?’’

‘’Looks that way,’’ he said, sounding like he was shrugging. ‘’Listen, we worked really hard on it, it’s gonna work.’’

‘’I wish I had your faith,’’ I replied, biting my lip. I let go of York completely and let Carolina drag me off back to the infirmary with Chi under my arm.

* * *

I didn’t wake up fully right away, I was aware my head ached and I felt sick to my stomach. So much so in fact, I was moments away from throwing up before I even opened my eyes. I groaned and heard movement beside me. 

‘’Marisa,’’ York said relieved. 

‘’Something’s wrong,’’ I said.

‘’What?’’ he asked worriedly, I tried to push myself up, feeling lightheaded. ‘’Marisa, open your eyes, look at me, tell me what’s wrong.’’

‘’York,’’ I shook my head. I could feel it in the back of my head, it was overwhelming. It was too much, something was wrong. I felt the bile rise in the back of my throat. I leaned forward, holding my head in my hands. Something was wrong.

I tried opening my eyes, and I couldn’t see. I could see, but I couldn’t see. I was met with visions of grey and blurs, just shapes and flashes of light. I could catch movement but nothing of any use. I couldn’t see, this hadn’t worked. Something was wrong. I let out a choking sob. This was too much. 

‘’Hey, hey, take it easy,’’ he said. I could feel hands on my biceps, holding me gently and I knew they must be his but I couldn’t concentrate enough to make the simple connection. I swallowed thickly trying desperately to hold on to the contents of my stomach. ‘’Marisa, tell me what’s wrong.’’

‘’Get a Doctor,’’ I choked out. ‘’Fuck, York, it’s too much.’’

‘’What is, what’s wrong?’’ he asked. I felt one hand let me go and he shifted, I heard the sound of a siren blaring down the hall and then he bent down to hold me again. 

‘’I can’t..’’ I shook my head. How could I explain this? Fuck, I didn’t even know what was happening. Why can’t I see? Why can I see what I can see? And why does it almost hurt? The movement in the back of my head, it was so intense, I shouldn’t be able to feel it, should I? What the hell was happening? Why is my head  _ throbbing?  _ ‘’I don’t know what’s happening.’’

‘’Marisa, baby, you’re scaring me what do you mean you don’t know what’s happening? Are you in pain? Can’t you see anything?’’ he asked. 

‘’I’m gonna be sick,’’ I replied, ripping out of his grip to cover my mouth. I felt the rim of a kidney bowl against my chin and I let loose into it. ‘’Fuck,’’ I groaned between regurgatations. 

‘’Doc, you gotta help her, something’s wrong,’’ York said and I threw up into the bowl again. ‘’Maybe the pain medication wore off, she’s not making a lotta sense.’’

‘’Dr. Holtz, can you tell me what you’re experiencing?’’ the scottish Dr. I’d never bothered learning the name of, asked. I shook my head, god this was so much. I felt cold hands on my forehead, forcing my head up to look in her direction. I could see the outline of a figure, everything in a solid grey. I could see the movement but nothing else. 

‘’It’s like the video cable of a TV set is loose, everything is grey, I can’t see anything,’’ I choked out. ‘’I can feel it, in the back of my head. It’s too much, it’s so much. Make it stop, fuck.’’

‘’I don’t understand,’’ the Dr. muttered. Oh that was great. ‘’Your surgery was a complete success and the implant went in faster than the last patient and they were granted complete return of vision as soon as they woke up.’’

‘’It can’t have been a complete success if I feel like this,’’ I grunted. ‘’I’m not getting any real vision, I can’t cope with this. I’m going to keep being sick. My head is pounding with the vibrations, I shouldn’t be able to even feel it. Wait, what do you mean the last patient?’’

‘’The team and I were discussing implanting a smaller device on an animal test subject if we could find the right one and what that right one would be when a wounded soldier came in. He had the exact injuries required for the test, damaged occipital lobe. He would have been cut from the program, lost his sight for the rest of his life, he was desperate. So we told him we had an experimental surgery, that it might not work, it had never been tested. He agreed and the surgery was a complete success, I don’t understand what happened with you.’’

‘’What do you mean you don’t understand what happened?’’ York demanded. 

‘’It’s possible your unsuccessful implantation is due to the amount of time you were unresponsive after the first surgery, the accident..’’ the Dr started. 

‘’Or,’’ I said and paused to throw up. ‘’It might not work on everyone. It can’t be a fix all for everything. There’s just too much damage, I doubt the wounded soldier fell from a height as high as I did, waited as long as I did for surgery. Maybe it just can’t work for me..’’

‘’I’ll meet with the other surgeons, discuss our options,’’ the Dr stuttered softly. 

‘’Marisa, I’m sorry,’’ York said as I felt the tears tumble down my cheeks. 

‘’It’s over, I’m never gonna see again,’’ I sniffed. York dropped an arm around my shoulders, rubbing my upper arm softly. I leaned into him as I choked on my sobs. It was over, I officially didn’t know what to do.

* * *

I woke up and felt a lot less sick this time. I spent some time in recovery before I was back in my lab sulking. I hadn’t really spent much time with my friends since the failed surgery. Everyone had been giving me space, except York. He tried, even when I flat out ignored him. He was a loyal seeing eye dog, I’d give him that.

‘’Hey, M,’’ I heard him say, as he entered my lab. ‘’You coming to lunch today?’’

I wanted to say no. But I couldn’t hide from the team forever. Especially since I was supposed to be developing a device for the person with the wounded throat. I chewed my lip. I couldn’t hide forever. 

‘’Yeah,’’ I croaked eventually. ‘’Yeah, let’s go.’’

I walked over to him and felt him put an arm around my shoulders, walking beside me as he led me to the mess. I sat down in my usual spot and he came back quickly with two trays. I picked at my food, sitting beside him as his arm returned. 

‘’It’s going to be okay,’’ he told me. ‘’You’ll figure something else out. I know you will, you returned sight to an officer who would otherwise be discharged, you can do the same for you. It’s just going to take time. This is just a setback.’’

‘’Logically, rationally, I know,’’ I sighed. ‘’But it’s a little different when you’re your own patient.’’

‘’I know,’’ he told me. ‘’Tell me what you need from me, how can I help you.’’

‘’I don’t know,’’ I replied. 

‘’Hey you,’’ I heard North sit across from me. 

‘’Oh thank god you’re back,’’ Wash greeted. ‘’The bullying has only gotten worse since you left.’’

‘’So it’s been a crappy time all round, that’s a comfort at least,’’ I said. 

‘’There’s gotta be something we can do,’’ Wash said. ‘’What about a stick?’’

‘’Depends, can I hit you with it?’’ I asked and I could feel him frowning. And then an idea sparked in my head. ‘’Actually, that might be the smartest thing you’ve ever said.’’ I heard York and North snort, and Wash start complaining he’s said lots of smart things. 

‘’I’ve been counting steps this entire time, using muscle memory to get to places I’ve been to before, familiar sounds. But if I could design some sort of electronic cane, load it with the schematics of the ship, have it tell me where I’m going, like some kind of GPS. My hearing’s pretty good now, have it alert me with a small sound if I get too close to a wall or something.. no I’m not thinking big enough. Also if I start sounding like a reversing van I might kill myself…’’

‘’See there you go,’’ York said. ‘’Although don’t you have Chi for that?’’

‘’I’d run it through him, if I could set up some kind of I don’t know, gloves maybe? I don’t wanna have to be carrying stuff around all the time. Oh, I could modify a pedometer or something, a wrist watch? Yeah, I’ll have it set off a signal if I get too close to something or have to make a turn, get myself more mobile, then I’ll have all the time in the world to figure out how to restore my sight,’’ I grinned. ‘’Sometimes, my genius astounds me.’’

‘’For me it’s your humility,’’ North remarked and I laughed for what must have been the first time in weeks. 

‘’Where’s Carolina, I want some time on the beam,’’ I asked. 

‘’I’ll let her know,’’ York told me. ‘’Go easy this time.’’

‘’Yes Dad,’’ I said, rolling my eyes. 

When lunch finished I had York take me back to my lab to start work immediately on my watch idea and had it finished by the end of the day. Carolina came to collect me afterwards and she let me give it a test run, letting it lead me to the training room. She seemed pretty impressed at what I’d designed, even if the vibrations got a little annoying. I’d have to decrease the sensitivity, it was going off like a mother every time I stood too close to the bench or any time I touched the beam to do a handstand. 

I was pretty excited though, I was so good on memory now with this beam I barely needed guidance from Chi. He cheered for me whenever I did anything particularly complicated, he was my own personal hype man. His hope always seemed to give me hope. I know he’s an AI, but he almost felt like a real person sometimes. I trained for less time this time, Carolina escorted me to another ice bath anyway and told me York would be by to help me out. Remembering the significant drop made me glad, even though I had my watch now, I was grateful. 

‘’Feeling any better?’’ York asked, signalling my 15 minutes was up. 

‘’Mostly cold,’’ I smiled. 

‘’Guess that means we’re headed to the mess after this,’’ he said. ‘’I see you’ve got your watch thing figured out.’’

‘’Got here basically on my own today,’’ I confirmed. I reached out to him and he lifted me over the edge of the tub and guided me to the bench where I could dry and dress myself while he waited outside. 

We were halfway to the mess when I realised I’d joined hands with him as soon as I’d exited the locker room and had no plans to let go until I had to. There was something comforting about his large, warm hands holding mine. York had been a real friend to me since the very beginning for no reason, and, it kinda made me feel warm inside. We eventually did disconnect when we got to our table, and I smiled softly to myself when his footsteps disappeared. What I wouldn’t give for this to be a regular thing.

‘’Hey Chi?’’ I said. 

‘’Yeah?’’ he asked, sounding almost sleepily. 

‘’Could you ask Carolina for more time in the training room, about the same time as often as possible?’’ I said. 

‘’Sure,’’ he replied cheerily. ‘’I’m glad you’ve perked up.’’

‘’Here,’’ York said, handing me a steaming hot mug and sitting beside me, dropping an arm over my shoulder. I leaned into his hold, he always smelled good, I’d noticed since we’d started standing in closer proximity. 

‘’What if I never see again?’’ I asked. 

‘’What are you talking about, you managed to help that officer, it’s just going to take time,’’ York said. I shook my head, shifting to lean forward and blow on my hot chocolate. 

‘’Reality is setting in,’’ I said. ‘’I’ve come forward in leaps and bounds in terms of what I’m capable of thanks to modern technology, I’ve pulled off the impossible for other people. But I’m not a miracle worker. I might never be able to do it. I might not get to see space, not get to see any of my projects at work, I’ll never be able to see your face, never know what you look like. What am I supposed to do if I can’t fix this?‘’

‘’You can see my face right now,’’ he told me. 

He took the mug from my hands and put it on the table in front of us. He grabbed my still burning palms and brought them towards him. Gently he placed his hands on his face. I was shaking, unable to move them, terrified because I couldn’t see I was gonna take out an eye. I could feel his rhythmic breathing blowing soft breaths on the tips of my thumbs and over the back of my hands. His slight shifts in position as he tried to sit as still as possible. 

‘’It’s okay,’’ he soothed. ‘’Look at me, see me.’’

I pulled my hands back but not far enough that I lost contact completely. I felt his stubble scratching the tips of my fingers as I brushed them across his sharp jaw. I settled my right hand on his jaw and traced my left up the side of his head. I swiped my thumb across his forehead, feeling his brow, feeling him furrow it as I stayed there. I found the midpoint between his eyebrows, followed it down to see his broad nose. My thumbs met in the space between his nose and lips making circles before dragging down to rest on his chin. 

‘’I don’t know what any of that means,’’ I breathed. ‘’I felt your face, I still don’t have a clue what you look like.’’

‘’Does it matter?’’ he asked. ‘’Would how I looked change how you look at me? How you feel?’’

‘’No,’’ I shook my head. He took my right hand up the left side of his face, guiding it to his eye and letting my fingers sink softly into the raised skin. I frowned, pushing a little harder, moving my fingers around until I was sure I felt what I did. A scar, I realised. 

‘’Then what does it matter if you’re blind? If you can never see again?’’ he asked as I clung to him. Left hand refusing to let go of his jaw and right hand resting softly on his scar. I felt his jaw clench and I swallowed thickly. I could feel everything, every expression, every movement he made when he changed how he was looking at me. I did see now, just with my hands. It’s how I was able to type notes, to build things, to help people. I swallowed hard again, trying to fight the compulsion I was feeling right now. 

I swung a leg over the side of the bench so my whole body was facing him. My heart beat a little faster. There was something, in the way it felt when his eyes were on me. The intimacy in the touch I was feeling right now. I hoped York couldn’t feel how sweaty my palms were getting right now as I held him close. I couldn’t fight it any longer. 

I shifted up and forward and I felt him move down and towards me. His plump lips met mine and I kissed him, hard. Our mouths moved desperately against each others and I felt his arms wrap around me tightly. The hand he’d had on my shoulders was cradling my head and his other was supporting the small of my back as he lifted me closer. I could feel the breath from his nose coming out in hard bursts on my upper lip, my own nose brushing against his with each movement. To hell with not being able to see, I was fucking kissing York. 

‘’Uh,’’ I heard someone clear their throat. ‘’The mess is closing…’’

I heard York make an annoyed noise and pulled back, shifting angrily toward the soldier who’d just interrupted. There was a squeaking of boots on the floor as he stumbled backwards. 

‘’Sorry..’’ he stuttered and I chuckled. 

‘’It’s alright,’’ I told the two of them and there was the sound of hurried, almost running footsteps away. I laughed again, and I couldn’t stop. Leaning forward I rested my head on York’s chest as I tried to stanch my laughter. 

‘’I’m glad you can find this funny, you know this is going to be all round the ship in like a day,’’ York grumbled. ‘’We’re gonna get so many stupid looks now.’’

‘’Shouldn’t have kissed me in the mess then,’’ I shrugged, moving to get up. ‘’Anyway, I’m blind, what do I care about looks?’’

‘’You kissed me!’’ he exclaimed and I chuckled. 

‘’Oh relax, I’m sure your threatening eye contact was enough to scare that guy into not saying anything for a while, I don’t even need to see to know about that,’’ I said and stood beside the bench. He got up and took my hand, leading me out of the mess. 

  
  



	6. Chapter 6

‘’How we lookin’, Chi?’’ I asked, staring down in the vague direction of the vat I was standing over. 

‘’Looks good, can’t detect a single anomaly,’’ he replied and I smiled to myself. Since coming to the future, the biomesh I was developing was having much greater success. With any luck we’d have a few more options on our larynx patient. 

‘’I’ve gotta say, it’s really weird just having unrestricted access to vats of stem cells and shit to make whatever I want,’’ I said. ‘’I’m kinda loving the future, you know, except the whole being blind thing. God, can you imagine what I’d be able to do if I wasn’t blind?’’

‘’Probably just as much as you can do now, Marisa,’’ Chi replied. Fuck, the future was annoyingly anti ableism. I rolled my eyes, or at least I think I did, and was about to come up with a witty retort when the door swished open. I smiled at the sound of his footsteps before he greeted me. 

‘’Hey M,’’ York said with a smile sounding in his voice. 

‘’How was your op?’’ I asked as I turned around. I heard his footsteps stop right in front of me and felt the air shift as he immediately wrapped his arms around me. 

‘’That’s classified,’’ he replied.

‘’Oh, so you fucked up,’’ I teased with a wry smile. 

‘’Why would you assume..’’ He started and I threw up a finger to silence him. 

‘’If it went fine you’d have said as much,’’ I poked him in the chest and he groaned. 

‘’If I’d have known saving your life would have brought this much bullying I’d have put a lot more thought into carrying you back to the dropship,’’ York told me and I snorted.

‘’Cheer up,’’ I said. ‘’I know how I can make it up to you.’’ 

‘’Oh?’’ 

I tugged him down by the front plate on his armour and threw my head forward to kiss him. Since Chi had pointed out that most important moments in life people had their eyes closed, I worried less about kissing. I’d always closed my eyes before impact before so why worry about it now? Although York being able to see might have helped on the accuracy front. Our kissing was awkward at first, due to the slight size difference in our heads and even mouths. But we were quickly able to adjust, just like last time. 

He shifted his arms that were still wrapped around me to lift me up onto the countertop behind me and press up close between my legs. I held tightly to his chestplate while I kissed him like I’d never get to do it again. I felt his large hands running up and down my back and it sent shudders down my spine. I’m so glad I fell through that tear in space and time. 

‘’Wash is coming,’’ I heard Chi chime in and York and I pulled apart. It was unspoken, but for now, this was to remain between us. York stepped a few steps back and the door swished open and the other freelancer skipped in.

‘’Hey Marisa,’’ Wash greeted cheerily before he came to a stop by the bench. ‘’Eugh, what’s in here?’’

‘’Stemcells, some micromesh I’m developing and some human tissue,’’ I replied. 

‘’Why?’’ he asked, sounding grossed out. 

‘’It’ll help bond things when I’m repairing people,’’ I shrugged. ‘’I was planning on using it on the injured larynx patient, but it could come in handy for all kinds of things. It’ll help bridge the gap between organic and machine. Any implants will take better, can be used to strengthen damaged nerves, that kinda stuff.’’

‘’Still gross,’’ Wash said. ‘’It looks so gross.’’

‘’I’ll take your word for it,’’ I laughed and pushed myself to the edge of the bench. I felt hands in front of me and leapt down, knowing it was York helping me down on instinct. 

‘’You guys coming to lunch?’’ Wash asked. 

‘’What, too afraid to go see North by yourself?’’ I laughed. ‘’And here I thought York was the main bully.’’

‘’Hey, I resent that, I’m not a bully,’’ York said, feigning innocence. 

‘’Sure,’’ Wash grumbled. 

I walked towards the door without hearing footsteps following behind me. I shrugged to myself, clutching Chi in my hand and headed straight to the mess. I was halfway there when I heard familiar footsteps catching up. I climbed into my usual spot at our table to feel Carolina was already there. 

‘’Hey you,’’ I said. ‘’Don’t see you here very often. I thought you were avoiding me.’’

‘’Oh yeah,’’ she joked. ‘’I just couldn’t keep myself away any longer.’’

‘’She’s been training,’’ North explained. ‘’Hard.’’

‘’I’d have visited you during your recovery from the surgery but the med staff said you couldn’t receive visitors,’’ Carolina told me honestly. 

‘’Yeah, the implant was making me blow chunks so much they thought the excitement would kill me,’’ I rolled my eyes. ‘’Or that my immune system was too weak from all the surgeries. York snuck in to see me every day. Kept his distance but it was much appreciated.’’

‘’Really, because I remember you spending most of those visits sobbing and swearing at me,’’ York said sitting down beside me. 

‘’Yeah well women are complicated,’’ I shrugged. 

Honestly I lived for the visits from York. I was feeling so much, I was distraught over the very real possibility of never being able to see again, what was almost becoming the reality. I was embarrassed I couldn’t keep anything down and even when there was nothing to throw up I was still heaving. And I wanted everyone to stay away from me, I couldn’t deal with their pity but once no one was around I was desperately lonely. Also it was York. For some reason I didn’t worry about him seeing me that way, I knew he didn’t pity me, I liked him. A lot. I wanted him around all the time. 

‘’What are you training so hard for, aren’t you like the killing machine around here?’’ I asked. Carolina snorted. 

‘’Now how I would describe myself, no,’’ she replied. ‘’I’ve gotta keep up my edge.’’

‘’We got a new agent a while back, they’re the only one who can rival Carolina in skill and strength,’’ York answered for her. 

‘’So what, you’re worried they’ll take your spot?’’ I asked. ‘’But you’re Carolina.’’

‘’They already did,’’ Carolina seethed. ‘’I want my spot back.’’

‘’Stop training so hard then,’’ I replied. ‘’All work and no play makes Carolina a dull girl. If all you do is train you’re going to hit a point you can’t improve anymore. Especially if you’re psyching yourself out by the mindset of having to be the best. Take it from someone who used to fight to be the top scientist in my field, just so I could prove I could be. I was pretty convinced if I wasn’t the best I was letting my entire gender down. I know that’s not why you’re doing what you’re doing but you can’t push yourself too hard or you’ll get worse, not better. I mean, before this noob came around did you even care you had number 1 or was it just an added job perk? Were you so good naturally or did you have to fight for number 1?’’

‘’It was my ranking since I started and I’d held it up until  _ she  _ showed up,’’ Carolina replied. ‘’But it’s not like I didn’t work for it, I earned my spot..’’

‘’I’m not saying you didn’t,’’ I replied. ‘’All I’m saying is stop riding yourself so hard, or you’re going to total yourself. Look after yourself. Please? For me and my booty that just won’t quit?’’

‘’Fine,’’ she grumbled, York snorting at my booty callback. ‘’I gave you three slots a week on the beam.’’

* * *

‘’What’d Wash want with you the other day?’’ I asked York as he strolled leisurely beside me. He was escorting me to my room after another night chatting in the mess after my gymnastic sessions. 

‘’Huh?’’ he replied. 

‘’Why else were you two so far behind me to lunch?’’ I said and he groaned. 

‘’He’s still got a thing for Carolina and he wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to go after her,’’ York explained and I chuckled. 

‘’He should just ask her out, worst she can say is no and then it’s over. He’ll know and can get over her,’’ I said. 

‘’Well he believes me, I’m not going to shoot my shot,’’ he said and I smirked. 

‘’From the way he tells it, you already did.’’ I smiled wryly, thinking back to my days in the medbay listening to Wash winge about York’s one night stand ruining his chances with his dream girl. 

‘’You heard about that, huh?’’ York asked, sounding awkward. I laughed. 

‘’Yeah, he wouldn’t shut up about it,’’ I told him. 

‘’You’re not upset?’’ he said. I shook my head. 

‘’It was one time, right?’’ I asked, keeping pace with his steps.

‘’Not exactly,’’ he muttered. I raised an eyebrow. ‘’I actually did like her. I tried to make it work for a few weeks after but she wasn’t interested.’’

‘’But it’s over now, no residual feelings?’’ I asked. 

‘’Nope, all over,’’ he answered honestly. 

‘’Then no, I’m not upset,’’ I said and leaned against my door. My heart sank. We’d finally reached the threshold and as much as I was tired and wanted to crash, I also didn’t want our time together to end. I spent a lot of time with him, I know, but it felt like we didn’t get a lot of time to just be with each other. It was just stealing kisses when we could and acting like friends the rest of the time. 

‘’You look it,’’ he said. 

‘’I’m sad we’re at my door already,’’ I replied. ‘’I’m sad you’re leaving.’’

‘’I don’t have to,’’ he said. 

‘’No?’’ I breathed as he stepped closer. I could feel him inches from me, breathing the same airspace. ‘’You wanna come inside?’’ 

‘’I can do that,’’ he said heavily. 

I could feel my chest rapidly rising and falling. I reached up for the door release, barely able to put the movement together. I felt a hand on mine before it was steered upwards to the button. We pressed it together and I was leaning so hard on the door I almost hit the deck when it whooshed open. York stepped forward just as I stepped back and in one fluid motion I was behind hoisted up to face height and wrapping my legs around his waist. I heard the door beep closed and I was held up against it from the inside. 

I threw my head forward to kiss him and he kissed back feverishly. My hands held his face to mine. The fingers of one hand knotted in his hair while the others rested on his jaw as it moved on mine. I slid my hands down his neck and to his hemline, yanking his shirt in an attempt to get it off. He took his large hands off my waist for a brief moment to throw his shirt up over his head and make quick work of mine. His lips moved to my exposed neck and shoulder and I squeezed my eyes shut at the sensation. I rested my head back on the door and arched into him. 

I felt his hands slip behind my back to unhook my bra before his mouth moved to kiss across the valley of my breasts. I heard the click of his tongue coming out of his mouth before I felt it flicking over the nipple of my left breast. The bud peaked instantly, already semi erect to the cool ship air. I let out a whine, god did I want him. 

His hands went to the fastener of my cargo pants and practically ripped them open. He thumbed the waistband of my panties, ready to slide them down as he mouthed along the side of my neck. I let out a moan and was jolted forwards. While York was holding me up against the door there was a frantic banging on the other side. I let out a moan of protest, what could be this important. York and I sighed, realising it was probably important just in time for the door to whoosh open behind me and hit me with an icy cold plast. York opened his mouth to yell at the culprit but the scream died in his mouth. 

‘’Thank god, finally, Marisa, there’s an emergency… why’s he shirtless?'' he asked, pausing in his desperate speech.. 

‘’Why’s that your first question?’’ I asked and York chuckled, bending with me still attached, to pick up something off the ground. I felt straps sliding up my arms and realised he was helping me cover up so I wasn’t exposed to the hallway. I’d been getting more and more careless with my modesty, forgetting that just because all I saw was darkness that it didn’t mean we all were. 

York dropped me to the ground and I felt my t-shirt being tugged back over my head. I popped my arms through the sleeves and I felt York squatting down again, presumably to grab his own shirt. There was a deep rumble that reverberated through the floors and I slipped, losing my balance, unprepared for the sudden jolt on the previously very steady ship. I let out a squeal and York grabbed me, wrapping strong arms around me. 

‘’There’s a shipwide emergency,'' Wash explained. ''I’ve been ordered to escort you to the briefing room, the Director wants you safe at all costs. And York? You’d better suit up. The ship’s under attack.’’

‘’Fuck,’’ York hissed. There was a second, much louder and much closer sounding explosion and I narrowly avoided tumbling, being caught by York who still held me tight. He bent down low and pressed a fierce kiss to my forehead. ‘’I’ve gotta go baby. Stay outta trouble. I’ll find you when this is over, I promise.’’ He kissed me again, a deep, open mouthed kiss before letting me go, taking off in a run down the hallway in the direction of the locker room. 

Another explosion rocked right through the ship and I stumbled forward, reaching desperately for Wash, connecting with his outstretched arms instantly. I let out an unintentional whimper and he tugged me close. 

‘’I got you,’’ he said. 

‘’I gotta get Chi,’’ I blurted out and he pulled me closer. 

‘’Don’t be mad, this is faster and we don’t have a lot of time,’’ he explained and before I could ask what I’d be mad about he scooped me up in his arms, darted forward into my room and grabbed the board Chi was loaded onto. He closed the door behind us and charged down the hallway but I had no idea from the moment he picked me up, where we were going. 

I chewed my lip nervously as the ship rumbled with more explosions, I gripped Chi to my chest hard, holding on like he was anchoring me to the earth. I needed to distract myself from this. It’s hard for me to picture if I would be more or less scared if this was happening and I had my sight, but blind I knew I was terrified. I didn’t travel this far, in an amazing feat of science, unable to be replicated by even the greatest scientists of this century, to die in a spaceship explosion in some random galaxy. 

‘’Not that I’m not flattered,’’ I started, between explosions, trying not to stutter. ‘’How come I’m important enough for a valiant rescue from a big cheese?’’

‘’Don’t ask me, it’s the Director that gave the order,’’ Wash replied. ‘’Aside from him and the Counsellor, you’ve been listed as one of the most important members of staff on this ship.’’

‘’Shit,’’ I replied and he chuckled, about to say something when we suddenly spun out to the side and he yelled out some curses of his own. I was thrown down and shoved up against a wall before the sound of gunfire bounced off the walls. 

‘’Chi?’’

‘’It’s going to be okay Marisa,’’ he soothed. ‘’Agent Washington knows what he’s doing, he’ll keep us safe.’’

‘’Chi I can’t see, I have no idea what’s going on,’’ I cried out. I held him tightly to my chest, clinging to my AI companion like he was a child. Even though I was the one who was scared like one. ‘’Chi, what’s happening? Who’s attacking the ship?’’

‘’I don’t know! I don’t have access to that kind of information,’’ he cried out, sounding scared for what must have been the first time ever. ‘’But I know we’ll be safe with Wash, he’ll protect us.’’

I felt a bullet whizzing past my face and I let out a scream, dropping to the ground, using the Chi bracelet to find my way across the floor. Squatting and ape crawling across the hallway must have looked ridiculous but it made me feel safe. I narrowly avoided the fight Wash was having but if I’d stayed put I’m sure I would have died by now, or at least been very squashed. I could hear metal slamming into metal and breaking around whatever had been thrown into it. I must have scurried maybe half a click before I heard the sounds of the fight taper off and there was running towards me. I toyed between breaking out into a short lived run or squashing myself into the small amount of cover I’d found and hoped they ran past me. I chose the hiding option and let out a scream when they reached for me. 

‘’Easy, it’s me,’’ I heard Wash soothe and I let out a deep breath. 

‘’Who the fuck was that?’’ I demanded. 

‘’You know, I didn’t stop to ask,’’ he joked and I clung to his armour plate hard the rest of the way to the briefing room. 

‘’How come you’re not scared?’’ I asked. 

‘’I am, a little,’’ he told me. ‘’But I signed up for this. Well, I didn’t want this. But I knew it was always a possibility when I enlisted and then got transferred to the project. Was space travel even possible in your time?’’

‘’To like, the moon or the space station orbiting Earth. We sent a robot to Mars, his name was Opportunity and he sang himself happy birthday every year. I had the day marked in my calendar and I used to cry into a cupcake because it was so sad. Yeah I know, he’s a robot. But you know what we programmed him to do that and it’s heartbreaking,’’ I told him and he chuckled. 

‘’That’s fucking adorable,’’ he told me. 

‘’Shut up,’’ I rolled my eyes, or at least I think I did. He chuckled and then came to a halt. He reached forward, letting go of me with one hand and I heard a button click and a door whoosh open. A few more steps into the room and he shifted. 

''Alright, down you go,'' he said and my bare feet touched the cool metal. I swallowed. 

''Agent Washington, you can find your assignment with Carolina and the other agents,'' I heard the familiar southern drawl of the Director. 

''Dr. Holtz, the Counsellor will be coming up on your left to escort you into the vault, you’ll be stationed there alongside myself and Mr Pierce until the situation has been handled,'' he told me. I felt cold hands on me, one gripping my forearm while the other rested between my shoulderblades. 

''I take it Mr Pierce is the Counsellor?'' I asked and nothing could prepare me for how cold the world suddenly became when the man holding me spoke. 

''That would be correct, Doctor,'' he gave me a tug and a push forward and was being led across the room. ''Mind your step.''

''Who’s attacking?'' I asked as I hopped over the raised floor. 

''Doesn’t matter,'' the Director said. ''The agents will have it sorted very soon.''

I heard a hiss and some more rumbling at what sounded like the doors slowly closing. There was a deep clunking noise as some locks slotted into place and there was a final buzz, signaling I guess, that we were locked in. 

''Make yourself comfortable, Dr Holtz,'' the Director told me. ''I’ll be at the desk, the Counsellor should be able to assist you in anything you may require while in here.''

''I have Chi, I should be fine,'' I said, clutching him close to me. 

''We will be,'' he chimed in cheerily. 

Wandering around for a moment I found a couch with a few throw pillows and grabbed one, wandering around until I found myself a corner and a piece of furniture to slot myself under. I patted my cargo pants pockets in search of my old phone. Finding it, I sighed in relief, and pushed the Motorola open. I sat the cheeseboard Chi was loaded into beside me and started typing away. If we're going to be stuck in here for a while, I might as well get some work done. 

''That’s amazing,'' Chi commented as I typed some particular notes. I sketched lightly on the touch screen a design and he hummed appreciatively. ''What if we..''

''You two seem to be working well together,'' Pierce commented. ''Are you happy with your assigned partner?''

''Absolutely!'' Chi cheered and I felt the atmosphere in the room change. 

''Dr Holtz?'' Piece asked. 

''Best lab tech I ever had,'' I shrugged. ''Chi, we work well together, don’t we?''

''Of course we do, Marisa,'' he agreed.

''Interesting..'' Pierce hummed and I tried to get back into the metal bone replacements I was working on. In my time we’d used metal to fuse bones back together, but I was working on something that would work in a situation that the bone was too damaged to hold together. Hopefully, preventing amputation and prosthesis. I had a weird vibe I’d be needing to make something like this soon, and that thought only got more concrete when the ship was invaded and I felt nonstop explosions rattling through the floor. 

''The two of you have a remarkable partnership, would you not agree?'' he said and I frowned. 

''What do you mean?''

''You’ve bonded in record time, you’re almost completely synchronised and you haven’t gone through the implantation process yet,'' he said. ''That’s interesting.''

''I’ll take your word for it,'' I remarked. ''If you’re bored, you should have brought a book. Chi and I have work to do.''

I heard the Director snort over on his side of the chamber and went back to typing. I hoped I’d been blunt enough to get him to leave us alone. I was glad I hadn’t met the man before now. He made the dismissive and blunt Director look like a social butterfly. Something about this Mr Pierce gave me the wig and I wanted to be away from him as soon as possible. 

It was hours later that the rumbling finally stopped and after 30 minutes without another sound I laid my head back on the cool metal wall with a sigh of relief. I put my phone away and grabbed Chi and the pillow I’d been sitting on, standing up to walk back over to the couch. I walked around until I found the desk and stood beside where I thought the Director ought to be. 

‘’Any word?’’I asked. 

‘’The agents have secured the ship, but we suffered damage. We’ve switched over to emergency power and one of the main generators is down,'' he supplied from behind me. ‘‘We’ll be in here for a little bit longer.’’

‘’How long is a little bit?’’ I asked, turning to face him.

‘’As long as it takes them to figure out how to get the doors open,’’ he answered casually. 

‘‘We’re stuck?’’ 

‘’For the time being. All the doors are locked down, they’re cutting through to the Generator but even then it’ll take time to get the right person in to repair it. People are stuck in different areas all over the ship,’’ he explained. ‘’Be grateful we’re in here, Dr Holtz, with food and supplies to last us until then.’’

‘’Chi, get me a damage report,’’ I ordered and I could hear him humming as he worked. ‘’We don’t have access to that..’’

‘’Director, wanna give us clearance?’’ I asked. There was the sound of typing before Chi let out a noise of concern. 

‘’Looks like the worst of it happened ages away from the generator room, so it’s going to be a loooong while before anyone can get us out.’’

‘’Forget about us, Chi, you heard the Director, we’re going to do just fine. Run some numbers, how many people are going to die before then?’’ I said and he made an upset beeping noise. ‘’How far is it from here to the generator?’’

‘‘For you? A long ass walk even if we could get out.’’

‘’Get me vent schematics and answer me that again,’’ I told him and he flicked through file after file. 

‘’Alright, even if we could get in, it’d still be a good 30 minutes of crawling through the vents before you get there,’’ he told me. ‘’And you don’t even know what the damage is going to be like.’’

‘’Well, if I can’t fix it I can always crawl back,’’ I shrugged. 

‘’You still need to be able to open the vent, and they were designed to not be easily unscrewed for this exact purpose, or at least the ones leading here,’’ the Director told me. 

‘’Chi?’’ I asked.

‘‘I don’t have any ideas yet,’’ he replied. 

‘’Are they designed to be hard to open from this side or the other?’’ I asked. 

‘’The other, I think,’’ Chi said and I started moving and he directed me to the wall where the vent cover was. I ran my hands over it, trying to get a feel for what I was dealing with. I could hear Chi muttering about it, trying to figure out how we could open it in here with limited access to the appropriate tools. 

‘’Pierce, run stock on what we’ve got in here that would be helpful in getting this shaft open,’’ I barked and he set to work. ‘’Chi how many pounds of pressure can the metal this cover is made of stand up to?’’

‘’You’re not going to be able to just kick it in, if that’s what you’re asking… unless you could come up with a way to pry the top forward a bit….’’ he mumbled the last part. 

‘’What are the legs of the furniture like?’’ I asked. 

I thought about the table I’d been sitting under and scurried back over to the small end table. I flipped it over and tried to wiggle it free. It took about thirty minutes but I didn’t have any other way to knock it out and if I did, that might bend the metal. It was about the right thickness that it could slip into the gap between the vent cover and the vent if I hit it in there hard enough. 

‘’Get one of the couch legs too, should just unscrew,’’ Chi told me and I walked over to it, tipping it over with little struggle and ran my hands along the bottom until I could find one of the sturdy, square legs. It was larger than my hand but because of the corners I could grip onto it easily enough. 

‘’Maybe I should have gotten two legs,’’ I muttered to myself. 

‘’Let me know when you’re ready to stop disassembling the furniture,’’ the Director told me. ‘’The best option really is just to sit and wait. The agents know what they’re doing and will get to us in plenty of time.’’

‘’Perhaps Dr Holtz is claustrophobic,’’ the Counsellor suggested and I rolled my eyes. Or at least I think I did. ‘’You wanna get me another one of those table legs or do you wanna just sit there and psychoanalysis me?’’

I took my table leg and lined it up with the gap and took a deep breath. Gripping the block leg of the couch I slammed it repeatedly into the end of my wedge. After maybe five minutes of banging I could hear creaking as I bent the vent cover forward. The counsellor came over with a new table leg and I was annoyed it’d taken him so little time compared to me. Lining that one up with the bottom gap and repeating the process. 

‘’What do you expect to do, when you get down there?’’ the Counsellor asked. 

‘’What I’m good at,’’ I replied with a shrug. ‘’I fix things, I work with machines.’’

‘’You’ve never seen something like this,’’ the Counsellor told me. 

‘’Yeah, generators in the future would be vastly different to the kinds I’m used to, but you know what hasn’t changed? How people go about breaking them,’’ I replied. ‘’And anyway, anything I fall short in, Chi can help me. We’ve got this. Once I repair the generator I’m going to head back here through the vents and we can go back to waiting to be rescued like some damsels in distress. But until then, people are dying.’’

I started trying to hit the bottom of the vent, knock the cover and push the bottom in and the top out. The cover was so big even if I couldn’t get it to detach completely I was small enough that maybe I could crawl under it. Giving up on the block, I eventually switched to kicking at it with both feet, remembering just how powerful human thighs were supposed to be. 

‘’M, take a break,’’ Chi told me after half an hour of kicking. He sounded like York, he’d even adopted the nickname he usually used on me. 

I sighed and wandered over to where the supply cabinet was and grabbed a bottle of water. I’d spent maybe an hour and a half of trying and I had no idea how long we’d been in here before then, just that it had been at least a few hours. I was losing hope I’d actually be able to do anything. Worried that I’d use up all my energy causing minor property damage only for someone to eventually come open our door and find soldiers and staff members lying dead after being caught up in the attack. No, no one was going to bleed out alone today, I had to get the doors back up and open. This is what I signed up for, to help people. 

‘’What do you think, Chi, we take the other two legs and keep trying?’’ I asked. He hummed. I knew he was running through our options and he didn’t sound all that hopeful. Which was an odd piece of irony. ‘’We can’t give up, Chi. What if it was me, lying out there? Do you think York would give up? Carolina? Wash or North? No. We keep trying.’’

‘’I know,’’ he sighed and I tried to wiggle the table legs free.

The Counsellor came over and took over for me, handing me one of the legs in a matter of minutes. I took it and went to bang it into place while he worked on the next one. Thanks to the other legs being in place, the vent over had actually moved quite a bit. With the next leg it moved further still. Deciding on hammering the last leg into the top as well, I heard a final and very loud creek before the vent clattered to the ground. I let out a sigh, thankful I didn’t have to kick it. My feet hurt. 

‘’And you thought I couldn’t do it,’’ I said to the room before dropping to my knees. I clambered over the vent cover and the stray table legs. I pushed the little, rectangular board Chi was loaded onto through the narrow passage before me and scooted through. I didn’t bother saying goodbye to the two gentlemen in the vault, if you could call them that. 

  
  



	7. Chapter 7

I grumbled as the wristwatch on my arm vibrated again. It had been going off like a mother since I’d climbed into the ventilation shaft back at the Vault. I breathed in here and that was practically enough for it to go off. The space was too confined for the proximity sensor to cope with. 

“Make a left up ahead,” Chi directed me and I shimmied a little farther. 

‘’You think you could turn that off until I get out of the vents?’’ I asked. Feeling no more vibrations, I assumed he got it. 

I was still mad the Counsellor suggested I was claustrophobic. Not only did I spend most of my time when shit like this happened squeezing myself into the safety of enclosed spaces, but I was busting out of that room for the pleasure of scooting through even smaller vents. Psht, claustrophobic. 

Despite these being ventilation shafts, I was sweating out all the water I’d drank in the Vault and then some. It was warm, I’m assuming because without the power from the generator, there was nothing to push the temperature controlled air around the ship. The backup generators would be running life support, but I imagine the comfort settings only came with full power. On the bright side, the sweat was making it easier to glide forward in the man sized tube. 

Chi let out a warning beep when I got close to the grate and I slammed my fists into it until it made a creaking noise and gave way, bouncing onto the floor. I started pushing myself out the hole before I heard yells of ‘’What was that?’’ and ‘’Check that room’’. 

‘’Shit,’’ I whispered to myself and gabbed Chi and the vent cover and scooted back into the vents. I tugged the vent cover back on and pushed myself and Chi as far back as I could in the vent shaft, hoping they wouldn’t check here and if they did, I was far enough back they wouldn’t be able to see me. If they could, they wouldn’t be able to get to me, and I imagine, would resort to shooting me and leaving my corpse to stink up the recycled air.

I listened to the sound of footsteps sweeping the generator room and set my mind to counting them. How many of them were there? It switched between sounding like two and three sets of footsteps. I could definitely hear two sets, but it sounded like someone was pacing nearby. I waited until I heard someone call out a ‘’Clear,’’ and scooted forward again. I caught the door  _ whooshing  _ closed and waited a few before Chi gave me the confirmation I should be safe enough to climb out. I honestly didn’t know if those soldiers were ours or the invaders but my blind ass didn’t want to find out. Also, our guys were meant to be trapped miles from the generator room. 

‘’Chi can you get a message to York for me?’’

‘’Uh, I can probably contact Delta, what did you want me to tell him?’’ Chi asked. 

‘’He said he’d find me when all of this was over, if those guys weren’t ours, I want to make sure someone besides the Director and the Counsellor knows where I am,’’ I said. ‘’Tell him I’m in the generator room right now trying to repair it and once the doors open, if he wants to find me this is where I’ll be.’’

‘’I thought you planned on crawling back to the vault,’’ he said. 

‘’I will and you can send another message then, but if those guys aren’t ours, I might not make it to the vents,’’ I explained. ‘’Actually, feel free to contact Theta and North too. Spread the word to all our friends you can get ahold of.’’

‘’You got it boss,’’ he replied and pushed the grate back open. I walked with my arms out, hoping Chi remembered to turn my watch back on or else I’d eventually slam into something in front of me and I was walking with such faith it would likely hurt. My wrist started buzzing and I put my hand down on a rounded surface. I felt warm glass under my palm and hummed. 

‘’Alright, can you scan this and tell me what’s stopping it from working?’’ I asked. 

‘’Looks like you were right,’’ he told me. ‘’There’s some debris blocking the components from spinning in the internal chamber. There’s an access hatch at floor height round to your right. If you remove it, you should just be able to start the restart sequence on the control board and we’ll have power again.’’

‘’Sick,’’ I said and walked around the side until Chi beeped at me. I squatted and reached out with my hand, feeling the rounded metal until I found something that felt like a door release. I knew two things about this generator, it was fucking big and it was half glass half metal. Who needs the ability to see? I was doing just fine. 

‘’Alright, how far in is the debris? Or do I have to figure that one out on my own?’’ I asked and he chuckled. 

‘’About a half a metre or so,’’ he told me and I leaned in until my waist, feeling around until I grabbed what felt like broken pieces of an office chair. I scoffed, they really had just thrown shit into the generator to stop it. I told them nothing had changed. 

I grabbed the bigger, freer pieces first and yanked them all out. The backrest, the ‘L’ shaped metal bar connecting it to the seat, the seat and the gas chamber that made the seat adjustable. The trouble was the legs. It had snapped in half and the two pieces were really jammed under the generator’s spinning blades. Thankfully, from touching them briefly they appeared to be blunt so I could lean against it with my other hand to yank the pieces free. 

It took about the minutes of struggling before I could get the first piece free and I was sweating more than I had been before. More lubrication for the vents, I guessed. I tossed the broken half section of wheels with the rest and crawled back into the generator to get what should be the last piece of debris. I grabbed it and yanked as hard as I could. It pulled the blade closer to me and I had to scoot back out of the generator and onto the floor. Tugging and wiggling the pieces seemed to only bring the blades back towards me leading me to assume it only spun one way. I bit my lip, frustratedly furrowing my brow as I tried to get this damn piece of shit out. With my luck by the time I got this free the soldiers on this ship would have busted through the doors in time to repair this themselves. 

There was a sudden jolt and I was able to tug the piece free, finally. I put my free hand down on the base of the generator floor and used it to push myself backwards out of the access hatch. I heard a whirring creak and felt the whoosh of air from the blade hitting me in the back, blowing my hair behind me, without a second to panic I felt my arm slide under the blade of the fan and heard a sickening crunch. Of course the fan spun both ways. There was a moment free of any pain while my brain caught up with what had just happened before all the agony came flooding in at once and I barely registered the sound of my own screams. I had tears flooding down my face as I tried to calm myself down, knowing the soldiers who had swept the room earlier were undoubtedly nearby and could come back at any second. 

‘’Chi, any idea how long until those soldiers come back?’’ I asked, biting down hard on the collar of my t-shirt as I tried to wiggle my arm free. 

‘’Not long I’d say, they’re trapped in this section of the ship with us,’’ he told me. 

‘’Do I have time to get back to the vent shaft before they get here?’’ I asked and he made a distressed beeping noise. 

‘’No, you’ve got to hide somewhere here,’’ he told me. 

I lifted myself out of the access hatch and closed the door behind me. I moved over to where he said the control panel for the generator was, hoping to hide myself near it so I could repair it easily and just wait for York to rescue me and take me to the medbay. No way I was crawling through half an hour’s worth of vents with a broken arm. Not if I had a choice. On my way I tripped over something and beant down, picking it up with the same arm I was using to hold Chi. 

‘’What is this?’’ I asked just as Chi muttered a ‘’Fuck’’.

‘’That’s the control switches for restarting the generator,’’ he told me and then I swore. ‘’Without that we can’t get this up and running.’’

‘’How do we attach it?’’ I asked. 

‘’You just need to reconnect the wires, there should be a repair kit in that desk over there along with some electrical tape,’’ he told me.

‘’You think I could hide in that desk?’’ I asked and made my way over. I scooted under the desk, hiding in between two sets of drawers, hoping the darkness from the emergency lighting I’d been imagining was enough to shield me from view while I was in here. 

‘’I’m telling you I heard a woman screaming,’’ one of the guys from earlier said as the door whooshed open. 

‘’And I’m telling you we swept this room twice, it’s just wishful thinking,’’ the other replied.

‘’Why would I be wanting to hear the sound of a woman screaming?’’ the first one said. 

‘’Bro,’’ the second replied and I could practically hear him shaking his head. 

I held my breath as they walked closer and clutched Chi and the generator control piece tightly to my chest. I was shaking with both fear and pain now and I just wanted to go home. To be back home at my apartment in Missouri, with the alley cat that would brush up against my legs when I got back for the day, just asking for a little attention. I never asked for this. I was content in my life just working, sleeping and repeating. 

I know I now had York. I had friends, I had Chi. I had everything here that I didn’t have back there, but that was all meaningless if I died here. I wasn’t a soldier, I wasn’t brave, I was a scientist. A desk jockey. That’s what I was good at. I didn’t belong here. What the hell was I thinking? Sneaking into places, saving the day, fighting bad guys? That was the others’s thing. 

I heard the footsteps head towards the door, it whoosh open, and them leave again. The door closed and I just stayed under the desk, silently sobbing with Chi in my arms. My arm hurt so bad. I knew I needed to continue, but I didn’t know if I could. How could I have thought I could do this? That this was a good idea? For fucks sake I was blind. 

‘’Marisa, M, are you going to move?’’ Chi asked. ‘’M, we don’t have a lot of time before they probably come back, please you gotta do something.. Marisa please..’’

‘’It hurts so bad, Chi,’’ I whimpered. 

‘’Marisa, I need you to do this, or to crawl back to the vents,’’ he told me. ‘’We can’t stay here or they’ll come back and hurt you. I can’t protect us, I can’t protect  _ you.  _ Please, you gotta move.’’

‘’I can’t,’’ I cried out, clutching him closer. 

‘’Yes you can,’’ he told me. ‘’You can, and you’re going to. You’ve gotta get up and go over to that control panel and reattach this section. I know you can do it. I know it.’’

I cried out and scooted across the floor on my ass, putting the control piece on the ground next to the drawers while I searched for the repairbox Chi said was here. Eventually I found it and carried it and the electric tape over to where I’d dumped Chi and the piece. I had to one hand them all into the box and tuck it under my arm to manage to carry it over to the panel. 

Chi was right, at least that I just had to reconnect the wires. I was able to mesh the broken pieces back together and electric tape them till they were secure, hoping that someone who actually did know how to repair this thing could come down later and fix this properly. Till then I could get the doors back open, hopefully. I had to tape the control piece onto the panel as well as it no longer just slotted into the hole. It was sporting some weird, bent out of shape bits and warping like it had been hit by something. I know it had been, that was how I imagined, they’d managed to get it off in the first place. 

‘’Okay, now you just have to set up system reset,’’ he said. ‘’If you can just press the buttons on, I can handle the software stuff.’’

‘’Fuck, Chi, this hurts so bad,’’ I told him. My arm had swollen up and when I was brave enough to touch it, none of the bones were where they belonged. There were lumps protruding up out of the skin where they shouldn’t be and some tears in the skin. 

‘’I know M, but we’re nearly there,’’ he encouraged. ‘’Not long now, just a few buttons. I’m going to need you to put in a code..’’

‘’I got it,’’ I said, reaching up to press the system restart button. 

‘’Shit, they’re coming back,’’ Chi told me and I started frantically pressing the buttons he’d told me to press. ‘’It’s too bright to hide under the desk!’’

‘’Is there anywhere else to hide?’’ I asked. 

‘’There’s a cabinet by the vent shaft you came in,’’ he told me and I took off in a run, stopping when I thought I got close to the vent. He directed me to my right and I did the electric slide across the floor until I found the cabinet he was speaking about. I ducked behind it and clutched myself and Chi close, trying not to put any pressure on my aching arm. I steadied my breathing now I was practically wetting myself with fear. 

‘’I told you there was someone in here, how else do you explain the generator coming back on,’’ the soldier who kept getting everyone to come back in here said. 

‘’Alright alright, but I don’t think you heard a woman screaming, why would some engineer repairing the generator be screaming, wouldn’t that alert us to their presence?’’ the other replied. 

‘’What are you two doing back in here?’’ a third voice demanded. I knew I heard three sets of footsteps.

‘’Generator turned back on, boss, which means someone was in here repairing it,’’ the first guy explained. 

‘’Well then hadn’t you better be out looking for them?’’ asked their superior. 

‘’We were just going to sweep the room, sir, they could still be here,’’ the second guy explained. 

‘’Why would they just hang around, if they were turning on the generator which would alert us to their presence, they’re not just going to sit around and wait for us to discover them,’’ their superior told them. ‘’No, now go sweep the rest of the section.’’

‘’But..’’ the first guy said. 

‘’Now,’’ he demanded. I heard two sets of footsteps leave but the door stayed open and the third set didn’t follow. I shook as I pressed myself up against the wall. He was still here. Why? 

I took slow breaths, I couldn’t risk making any noise, even though I was fighting off the sudden urge to hyperventilate. My pulse hammered in my ears. I couldn’t even speak to tell Chi to send a message to York to help me. Not that he could do much, I imagined the power had only just come back on, meaning he’d have to travel through half the ship to find me. And he ran the risk of running into more soldiers like the ones I had and had to fight them off. 

I shook as I held Chi, despite the adrenalin I could still feel the ache in my arm and the subsequent nausea from my injuries. I wanted to cry out with the pain, to hurl my lunch and I wanted to go home, or even crawl back to the Vault with the Director and the Counsellor. But unfortunately I could do little more than sit and pray. 

I heard a set of footsteps start at the doorway and make their way towards the generator. I made up my mind, if I didn’t move, I’d be caught for sure. I had Chi on me and I wanted to keep it that way but I had a sudden moment of fear. What would the enemy do if they got their hands on a portable AI. I’d been warned not to leave Chi unattended at any point, and spoken about how invaluable he was. I could not afford to lose him. 

I pushed myself up off the ground and slowly crept around the cabinet, feeling along the wall for the vent. I ran my fingers across the grate and discovered the gaps between the metal bars were definitely big enough. I nodded to myself, I would be okay but I needed to protect Chi. I slipped the very thin, cheeseboard sized device through the grate and lowered it to the bottom of the shaft slowly so it wouldn’t make a sound. This had better work.

I stood low, breaking off in the quietest run I could, thankful my bare feet on the metal ship floor made quiet footsteps. I thanked my lucky stars the other set of footsteps in the room continued to get fainter as I got closer to the door. My proximity sensor went off when I got close and I used it to steer around it and head straight into the hallway. Getting confident I surged forward, running down a hallway and round a corner. I ran my non broken arm along the wall as I ran, hoping to find another little alcove to hide in like I had when Wash encountered that guy. 

My fingers made contact and I threw myself into the space, ducking down small hoping I was hidden enough but unsure where I was. I wished I hadn’t hidden Chi away but I needed to keep him safe. I shivered, not only did I feel sick, I felt freezing. I hoped Chi was able to get York or someone a message and let them know there had been complications in my plan. My proximity sensor would give Chi information of where I was in relation to the ship’s schematics but unfortunately, because I wasn’t with him I had absolutely no clue where I was or what was going on. 

There was something that was so terrifying about going through all of this without Chi, I had no idea how much I’d grown to depend on him until I didn’t have him anymore. I shivered again and wished I’d never left my spot in the Vault. I just didn’t want people to die. I wanted to help people, the whole reason I’d signed up, the reason I was in medical robotics rather than just robotics making cool killer robots with sawblades and shit. 

I tensed up, I could hear someone approaching. I didn’t have anything but myself to cling to. I didn’t know how bright or dark it was, or if I was even hidden. I didn’t know if I should move or if I should stay, all I did know is that I was frozen. I could feel silent tears streaming down my cheeks. I didn’t want to be here. 

‘’Hey, you, small child. Come out of there immediately,” I heard a deep voice say. Small child? Was someone else nearby? I shivered heavily. I couldn’t stop shaking. I knew I should jump out if there was a kid nearby, have them take me instead but I had no idea where they even were. 

“Are you listening to me? Come out of there!” the deep voice called again. It seemed closer almost. 

Suddenly I felt a hand grasp around my wrist and I let out an agonised scream. Oh shit the kid is me! I guess compared to the 7ft genetic freaks I was surrounded by, I was about the size of a child. 

‘’You’re not a kid..’’ they said and I sobbed. My forearm burned. If possible I was shaking more and sure I was going to throw up. 

‘’Please, my arm, it’s broken,’’ I choked out. I felt their grip losen and switch to holding me further up. 

‘’Alright, who are you, identify yourself,’’ they said. I didn’t want to say, if they found out I was useful they might use me against the ship but if they thought I was useless there was nothing stopping them from killing me. 

‘’I’m Marisa,’’ I replied. I kept it vague, trying not to give out too many details like my last name. 

‘’Marisa who? What do you do here? Are you a soldier?’’ they asked and I shook my head. 

‘’I don’t work here,’’ I said. I knew I was technically a scientist but, again, I figured the less I said the better. It was probably a bit much to explain I was a time traveler from the past. 

‘’I have a head injury that caused me to go blind, I’m currently being escorted on this ship to the nearest medical care that can assist,” I answered. “I can’t see anything, I can’t see you or where I am aboard this ship.”

‘’Are you a soldier? Why would they be taking you elsewhere for treatment?’’ he asked. 

‘’I’m not a soldier, I got injured in front of them that’s all,’’ I said. That part was technically true. ‘’I don’t know why they’re helping me, I’m just grateful.’’

‘’Why are you down here, shouldn’t you be in your room instead of all the way in the lower decks of the ship? How did you get down here if you’re blind!?’’ he demanded, shaking me a little when I didn’t respond right away. ‘’Answer me.’’

‘’I..’’

‘’Hey!’’ I heard another voice call, sounded like one of the ones from earlier. Fuck. ‘’Lieutenant Smith!’’

‘’I’ve got someone over here,’’ my guy, I guess Lieutenant Smith, called back. ‘’Some midget with a broken arm, claiming to be blind.’’

‘’You can’t just call people midgets,’’ I scolded before I knew what was coming out of my mouth. I heard a snort above me. 

‘’That’s what you took issue with?’’ he said. 

‘’I have a proximity sensor on my wrist, it lets me know when I’m getting too close to walls or objects, you can take it off and feel for yourself if you want. I got lost, that’s why I’m down here,’’ I explained. 

‘’Someone turned the generator back on,’’ the other guy said as he got closer. 

‘’You think it was her?’’ Smith asked. 

‘’She does have a broken arm, you ask why?’’ the one from earlier asked. 

‘’Why’s your arm broken?’’ Smith asked, shaking me a little when I didn’t respond right away. 

‘’I tripped and fell, I’m blind and I didn’t see what I tripped on,’’ I explained. 

‘’This is all very convenient,’’ he said. 

‘’You wanna test to see if I’m blind? Who lies about that kind of thing?’’ I asked. ‘’If you don’t believe me you’ll be able to feel, even see the scars on the back of my head from the craniectomy.’’ 

‘’Forget it, let’s take her back to the CO and see what he thinks,’’ the one from earlier said. 

‘’Man, I don’t wanna talk to Moore,’’ my guy said. ‘’He’s such an asshole.’’

‘’You don’t have to sweep with him, Lieu,’’ the one from earlier said. ‘’Think yourself lucky you’re not being babysat.’’

‘’Get good then,’’ Smith chuckled. I shook in Smith’s hold. He was holding me up fairly high, my toes barely touching the ground, assuring me this guy was decently tall. ‘’Alright, let’s find an empty room, maybe get this girl to talk a little more.’’

‘’What?’’ I stuttered out. I started trying to get him to give up his grip on my bicep. After a few minutes of futile clawing he slapped my hand away. 

‘’Unless you wanna admit anything, sweetie, behave yourself,’’ Smith told me and the two of them quick marched towards a nearby room. I struggled but my feet barely touched the ground at the best of times and right now I was having a lot of bad times.

* * *

York POV

‘’York, I’m reading a message from Chi,’’ Delta said while I swept the nearby room. So far, I hadn’t run into anyone since the doors closed. Maybe there wasn’t anyone in my section. Well, besides the ones I’d dealt with just before everything shut down. It was dark, and I thanked my lucky stars my assault rifle had a light on it as well, as the ones on my helmet didn’t do jack. 

‘’What’s Marisa want? If she’s contacting me right now it must be serious,’’ I replied, finding another door to try open. It was unlikely to work without the power, but infiltration was kinda my specialty. 

‘’She’s asked her AI companion to let yourself, and other nearby freelancers she’s made her way through the ventilation shaft to the generator room and is starting system repairs,’’ Delta told me and I swore. 

‘’What?! She’s where!!’’ My heart hammered against my ribcage. I locked her in the Vault, she was supposed to be safe. Why the fuck did she leave?

‘’York, I’m detecting increased heart rate, is everything alright?’’ Delta asked and I tried to calm my breathing down. ‘’Heart rate activity going down.’’

‘’Alright, have Chi give me updates as often as possible,’’ I told him. 

‘’And what are you going to be doing?’’ he returned and I shook my head. 

‘’I’m going to try and get there to help her,’’ I explained and started trying to kick the door open. I pressed a finger to the button on the side of my helmet, putting out a broadcast to my team. ‘’ **Guys, Marisa’s in the generator room.** ’’

‘’ **What? Why? I put her in the Vault with the Director. Why the fuck did she leave?** ’’ Came Wash’s immediate response. 

‘’ **Apparently, she decided to make her way through the vents, doesn’t seem like an order or the Director would have told us,** ’’ I replied. 

‘’ **Alright, looks like I’m the closest,** ’’ North replied. ‘’ **I’ll see if there’s any way I can leave my section. It’s the only one without one of us inside, unless South managed to make it before the doors shut.** ’’

‘’ **Sorry bro, I got there just as, I’m on the other side of the wall. Section’s clear though, as soon as those doors open I’m in there,** ’’ South replied and I swore, kicking the door harder.

‘’ **Does anyone know what possessed Dr Holtz to venture through the vents in the first place?** ’’ Carolina said. ‘’ **Anyone think they can fit in the vents and crawl through to her?** ’’

‘’ **Not unless I strip off completely and even then it’s only a maybe,** ’’ South replied. 

‘’ **And that would mean having to fight off any enemy soldiers in the buff,** ’’ Wash added. Delta blinked in my field of vision when I slammed my foot into the metal enough to make a small gap. Still not enough to push through. I listened to what he said. 

‘’ **Apparently she’s cleared the debris from the fan but the control panel’s been broken off and there’s enemy soldiers sweeping the room,** ’’ I repeated what Delta just told me. 

‘’ **Fuck,** ’’ Wash radioed back and I busted through the door and started running as fast as my suit would let me through the section. ‘’ **Do you think I can get fired for this?** ’’ 

‘’ **Wash!** ’’ I yelled back and ran into a team of three soldiers. They looked low level and proved to be as they were easily defeated. 

‘’ **Nah,** ’’ South replied. ‘’ **You put her in the Vault, that’s your part done. If she then decides to leave, that’s someone else’s problem.** ’’ 

‘’ **Is she even armed?** ’’ North asked. ‘’ **Last I checked, Marisa really wasn’t the fighting type.** ’’

‘’ **Isn’t your friend blind? What good is a weapon going to be?** ’’ South asked. I had to agree but at the same time, I did wish she had some kind of protection. 

‘’ **Delta says no and she’s also broken her arm somehow,** ’’ I reported back. 

‘’ **Fuck,** ’’ Carolina swore. I’m glad someone else was taking this whole thing seriously. ‘’ **Has she gotten the system restarted yet? As soon as those doors open I can get my speed unit going and get to her but until then she’s going to need to hide. What the hell is wrong with your girlfriend?** ’’ 

‘’ **Wait, she’s your girlfriend?** ’’ North asked. ‘’ **Man, congratulations, why didn’t you tell me?** ’’ 

‘’ **Not really the time, North, also Carolina how did you know?** ’’ I asked. I came to another door and groaned. Why was this damn ship so secure?

‘’ **Sorry, were you not wanting it out yet?** ’’ she teased. ‘’ **Walked into the locker room one time to see you two making out, I figured you had a thing going.** ’’

‘’ **Marisa’s right, you do have assassin footsteps,** ’’ I replied, kicking the next door. 

‘’ **So does this mean I’m no longer sworn to secrecy?** ’’ Wash asked. 

‘’ **It’s probably best the whole ship doesn’t know, but yeah, I guess we’re out,** ’’ I replied. ‘’ **If she lives.** ’’

‘’ **Morbid,** ’’ South said with a chuckle. 


End file.
